Keepin' It Real with Cam Marston

Weekly observations on travel, work, parenting, and life as it goes on around me. Airing Fridays on Alabama Public Radio.

Rebellion 12/05/2025

Rebellion 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 while. My hope was that my kids wouldn’t show up at home with some tattoo they got out of rebellion that, once they were older, they’d regret. Wait till you’re older, I’d say, when you’re more aware of consequences and can make these decisions smartly. My daughters wanted multiple ear piercings. No, I’d say. Adding extra holes to your body are decisions to made in later days. Not now, as a teen, when impulsiveness runs dangerously high. If that’s what you want to do some day, great. But not now. Wait. Please. We’ve always been Alabama football fans in my house. My mother went to school there. She loved it. She told stories about her sorority days and the night she stood up Joe Namath because she saw him from behind as she was coming down the stairs of her sorority house and his hair touched his collar. She went back to her room and called downstairs sick. My father went to dental school at the University of Alabama School of Dentistry which was in Birmingham and eventually became UAB. As kids, we considered it Alabama though not in Tuscaloosa. So our mom and dad went to Alabama in our eyes. I was a fan as a kid and it passed to my kids. My favorite oldest son goes to school there and my favorite youngest son will begin there in the fall. They wore Alabama jerseys as children watching the football games in the den in the fall. Auburn has been the butt of jokes for a long time around my house only because it’s our rival and that’s the way you talk about rivals. I can remember saying that my kids are welcome to go to Auburn but once they do, they can never come home again. It sometimes got a laugh. Well, last night, my favorite youngest daughter announced she has committed to attend Auburn University in the fall. And I was elated. I truly was. She’s found a place that she likes and, based on her friends there, a place that likes her. She’s smart and they like smart people at Auburn. She’s creative and ambitious, and they like those people at Auburn, too. Gone is my bravado about never sending a child to that cow college on the plains and her never being allowed to come home again. She’s breaking a mold, breaking a tradition, carving her own path. And if this is her rebellion against her family, I’m grateful for it. It’s not bad, not bad at all. In fact, I’m quite proud of her. I’m Cam Marston and I’m just trying to Keep It Real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/39291565

Thankful 11/28/2025

Thankful 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, self-righteous blog post or letter once a year. Which is what has jumped out recently. So today’s commentary is about hypocrisy - words versus actions. For example, I got a blast-out letter in the mail Monday from a colleague reminding us that the most important things in life are not fame or fortune but family and friends and this is the time of year to be mindful of that. The letter was sent to his clients and others he’s ID’d as influencers. This is the same guy who cancelled dinner plans with my wife and me because he got a better offer. He, in fact, said that. His words were that family and friends are key. His actions suggest he’s sincere until there’s a better offer. His words were hollow. His behavior hit deep. Additionally, daily, with claws sharpened and fangs looking for places to sink into flesh, some of our nation’s most hateful, divisive, and character-less politicians have suddenly adopted this holier-than-thou stance to wish everyone a peaceful Thanksgiving and holy wishes for a holiday season. For the entire year they have wanted their enemies to slowly burn at the stake in public view. Their default rhetoric is hate, however, this week, they take on this BS pious façade, wishing happy and holy peace on friends and enemies alike. Their behaviors are their tell. Their words - scripted and empty. On a personal note, I’m dealing with a manufacturing problem with a hunting rifle. Their social media presence – their words - suggests that they are hugely customer focused. However, getting them to respond to their manufacturing defect has been anything but customer centric. Emails, voice mails, social media connections. No help. Their actions thus far suggest that once you buy their product you cease to exist. Hypocrisy galls me. Am I guilty of it? Certainly. Have I have said one thing and done another. Many times. I’m no saint. But I’m aware of it and I’m working on it. If I’m thankful for friends and family, do I cultivate those relationships throughout the year? If I’m thankful for my health, do I work to maintain it throughout the year? If I’m thankful for a country of freedoms, do I work to protect and serve them throughout the year? If I’m thankful for a successful company, do I value my customers throughout the year? Or do I throw out a vapid social media post annually or a mass-produced letter near the holidays. Do I ignore my customers when they need me to fix a mistake? I hope not. I certainly hope not. Let’s work to live the words we say, and live our thanks every single day. On that note, I’m thankful for all of you and this wonderful platform I have to try to Keep It Real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/39179290

Go Find This Podcast 11/21/2025

Go Find This Podcast 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. Gladwell goes out of his way a few times in the podcast to say something along the lines of “what you think people would do in this case is this. However, this is Alabama.” It’s a clear shot at our state. A slap. Degrading and belittling. However, I want you to find The Alabama Murders podcast because, candidly, we deserve it this time. Two men were executed for killing a woman who they did not kill. The jury of their peers wanted them jailed for the harm they did but the judge, who also knew they didn’t kill her, changed their sentence to the death penalty in a move called judicial override. If Gladwell’s telling of the story is true, after every state in the union had eliminated judicial override, Alabama kept it for a long while. After every state in the union reverted every guilty party’s judgment to what was given to them by the jury of their peers, Alabama refused to change any sentences, grandfathering in the judicial override sentencing which led to the execution of the two men who did not kill their victim. Her husband did. Go find The Alabama Murders and hear the story for yourself. The most gruesome part of the story is not the murder of the lady, but our state’s repeated failed attempts to execute the prisoners. It was, unquestionably, cruel and unusual punishment performed by men who then took to the media to boast about creating new precedents that states across the nation should adopt. Granted, the podcast included some dramatization. Long silences to let words linger, music that drove home the cruelty inflicted in each execution and attempted execution. And silences where we can only assume the person being interviewed was quietly crying. But folks, there is no question there should be egg all over our face based on what happened. I’m as sick as the next person of Alabama being looked down upon. And as much as I admire and like Gladwell, I’ve read all his books, I wish he’d sniff around his own backyard to find stories of justice gone wrong. Leave us alone. There are many many good people here but Gladwell seems to want us to think otherwise. However, you do need to hear this podcast. You need to hear all that happened and who facilitated it and who knew about the cruelty in the executions and did nothing and who knew about the true murderer and sentenced these men to death instead. Find The Alabama Murders in your podcasts. It’ll make you flinch. It’ll make you want to turn away. Don’t. Listen to it. And help me hold our state and our elected officials to a higher standard. I’m Cam Marston just trying to Keep it Real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/39100685

Routines 11/14/2025

Routines 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 review my calendar for the day, make a to-do list, boil an egg for breakfast, shower, dress, and head into the office. It’s the same thing every weekday. I love my routine. It’s helpful. It grounds me. It’s something I can control. It’s a predictable thing in this unpredictable world. It’s reliable and I like that. At the very same time, I also hate my routine. It drains the life from me. It’s oppressive. It holds me back. It severely restricts me. It’s tyranny. How can something that I love so much, that I count on to be there every day, also crush my soul? It makes no sense, but that’s what it does. This, of course, leads me to the upcoming Thanksgiving holidays. Routines and traditions are not the same thing, but they can have the same impact. For years my extended family has gathered at my father’s cabin in the woods of Clark County on Thanksgiving Day. I can’t be there on Thanksgiving Day without thinking of my mother. She’s been gone for three years or so and yet the place still reflects my mother’s presence. And Thanksgiving Day was the pinnacle of her presence each year there. She’d set the table in a way I can still remember. She’d send her grandkids into the woods to find leaves that had changed colors for the fall – they’re not easy to find in south Alabama. The leaves would be arranged in small vases down the center of the table. There were short wax candle figurines of pilgrims and turkeys that magically appeared on the table each year. They were on that table when I was a child; my kids, decades later, knew to expect them and asked about them. We eat. Comments are made that if you want any food, don’t get behind my sister-in-law in the line to fix your plate. The same thing every year. The same comments. The same wonderful food. It's a tradition. It’s an annual routine. It’s wonderful to fall back on – we know exactly what’s coming. It’s also specifically prescribed behaviors which we all agree to participate in, which, to me, can feel stifling. However, I happily do it because not having it – this tradition, this annual routine – not having it available to me – would be worse. The meal would feel empty and awful. I cherish it. Just like tomorrow, I’ll get up again just after 5AM, get dressed, start the coffee maker, fold clothes while the coffee brews, and so on. It’s boring and predictable. But I need it. I cherish it. Not having it available to me would be worse. I’m Cam Marston, just trying to Keep It Real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/39021415

Work Week 11/07/2025

Work Week 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 changed. Maybe it’s age or wisdom, but I don’t feel the same way about work anymore. I usually charge out of bed on Monday morning with a to-do list that I made Sunday evening. I hit the list hard Monday and Tuesday, adding things to it along the way. By Wednesday I can feel my energy beginning to fade. I’m watching dumb TV at night rather than reading. Thursday morning, I try to get a few simple things done because I know that lunch on Thursday about the last time, I’ll be productive that week. Friday, I make a show of it. I leave the easy items on my to-do list for Friday so I can feel like I’ve done something as I check them off and by lunch on Friday I’m cooked. My brain is fried. I’m tired. Nothing more will get done until my list making begins again on Sunday. At my gym, one of the trainers asked if I wanted to join her workout at 5:30pm on Fridays. It caught me off guard. I laughed a little and told her that by 5:30pm on Friday I’m useless and beginning a workout at that time on a Friday was out of my world of possibilities. I’m more likely to be having a beer with friends or in a ball on the couch, beaten to death by the work week. An organized workout is nowhere near being on my radar. The trainer is young. She looked confused. I didn’t even try to explain. I’m beginning to appreciate dentists hours more and more. My dentist begins reminding me of an upcoming appointment about six weeks out with a barrage of texts and an automated voice mail, nearly threatening me to not miss my appointment. The dentist also attaches emotions to their message, as if missing or having to reschedule will hurt their feelings. I feel ashamed and like I’ve let them down if I have to reschedule. When I arrive, I see they pack their patients into the workweek so that they can take half a day off on Wednesday and a whole day off on Friday. His office is a spinning carousel of open mouths and teeth and the dentist is on the move from patient to patient. But call him after noon on Wednesday or on Friday and you’ll get the answering machine. He’s gone. So is his team. But my phone is still buzzing with automated messages telling me about my upcoming appointment and how they’ll be heartbroken and maybe even cry a little if I can’t make it. However, by the time Friday rolls around, I think my dentist and I are living the same dream. He’s locked his office door, and I’m shutting down my brain. He’s earned his day off, and I’ve earned the right to stare at nothing for a while. Maybe that’s how grown-ups measure success — not by how much we get done, but by how guilt-free we can be when we finally stop trying. I’m Cam Marston and I’m just trying to keep it real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/38928840

Turn The Page 10/31/2025

Turn The Page 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 again and again, but eventually began singing it with me. To this day I can’t hear that song without thinking about picking up my daughter from her volleyball practice. This week she played her last volleyball match. She’s a high school senior, and I watched her walk off the court Wednesday in Birmingham for the last time. She gathered with her team and her coach to talk about the match, and then she lingered out there a while. I stood by, eager to smile and congratulate her on her volleyball career that included many more wins than losses. When she finally left the court and walked to me, I took a big breath, looked into her red eyes full of tears, and could only hug her and kiss her sweaty head. My words were lost. I muttered quietly how proud I was of her, tears in my eyes, voice choaking. Last night my son, her twin, played his final high school football game. Like my daughter, his football community has been a big part of his life since he was in middle school. I located him after game, kissed his sweaty head, and told him, like my daughter, how proud he made me to see him out there year after year as a teammate, a contributor on the field, and a leader of the underclassmen. So, after four kids and hundreds of games and matches, countless hours in stands and on sidelines, it’s all over. As I think back on it now, I regret ever complaining about having to pick up my daughters and her friends from another volleyball practice and taking each of them home. I regret wishing I’d get a Friday night in the fall where I wasn’t committed to being in the football stands. I wonder how I’ll feel when the absence of commitments to my children and their activities makes me wonder who I am now. These tethers that I once begrudged actually offered me meaning, purpose, and an identity. I’ve heard it referred to as the thunderclap of silence. What will fill that void? And who will I become? My children may be my role models in this regard. Their eyes are already on what’s next. One is talking about college roommates already. The other is getting college applications out and acceptance letters in. Their time being on the courts and on the field will quickly fade to memories and stories; parts of their former identity. And for me, it’s with great sadness, difficulty, and a lump in my throat, that I reluctantly turn the page. I’m Cam Marston just trying to Keep It Real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/38848245

Side By Side 10/24/2025

Side By Side 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 day. I find it interesting that being alone is as unhealthy as repeatedly inhaling smoke into your lungs. They seem dramatically different to me. Oddly, there are times I need social isolation to stay healthy or at least to stay sane. I guess too much isolation is the issue. This research on retirement led me to something call Men’s Sheds. Not Man Caves, which are for a man and maybe his buddies to drink and watch sports in spaces painted in testosterone. This is a Men’s Shed. I first heard about them in Australia and now they’ve grown to Canada. They’re destinations for retired men to gather and do something together – more than watch sports and drink. They’re places that retired men gather to work on things with their hands. It seems a lot of them involve wood working and fixing things made from wood. One retired person has the tools and knows how to use them and opens up his shed for everyone to come and mess around with the woodworking or hang out while other people are messing around. Men around the community join them and they gather in the Men Shed regularly to build and fix things. It gives them purpose and camaraderie, which, if I read all this correctly, men seem be on the search for more so than women. It doesn’t say why. Furthermore, and this interested me, is that men develop friendships shoulder to shoulder. They watch things together next to one another or do things together next to one another, and friendships develop. And I think about the number of fathers I’ve come to know over the years as we stand together facing the ball field or the volleyball court watching our kids play. We had great friendships, and I only got to know them and come to like them when we stood side by side. I think that’s kinda interesting. Last thing and I’ll get off this topic - is the many fewer places for men to gather. Having a ‘men only’ space is taboo today. In fact, many things ‘men only’ is taboo today. I mentioned to a friend in Oregon that I’m a member of a male-only Mardi Gras organization. He wondered what kind of misogynistic world I live in down here in south Alabama. He wondered how civilization has passed us by. How could I possibly be a member of such a thing? I let it go. But later in the same conversation he quietly admitted he had no real friends where he lives. He has to travel to see his friends. I felt for him. So I sent him a picture of me and my buddy standing side by side on a Mardi Gras float wearing big grins and throwing beads with the note: “Sure looks like hell, doesn’t it?” I’m Cam Marston, Just trying to Keep it Real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/38730935

Retirement Ready 10/17/2025

Retirement Ready 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 who leads education for medical doctors for a very progressive organization out west. We talked shop for a bit. She had lots of ambitions plans for her organization. She sounded like someone fully engaged and stimulated by their work. My guess is she’s about my age and I asked if she ever thought about retirement. In a rush she said “Oh goodness yes. I can’t wait.” “When do you want to retire?” I asked. “As soon as I can,” she said. “But it sounds like you enjoy your work.” I was confused. “I do,” she said, “but I’m ready to not have to do it anymore.” She enjoyed it but doesn’t want to have to do it. Similarly, I’ve heard more references to burnout recently than I’ve ever heard. A friend in Mississippi said his wife could tell he was burned so badly that she needed him to either take a year off or buy a new boat. Now that’s a supportive spouse! He was lucky to have her and he knew it. I’m hearing burnout references in my calls and with other friends and colleagues, too. Seems like Covid ramped up burnout – before then I seldom heard it. Since then, I hear it more, especially recently. Social Scientist and author Arthur Brooks defined burnout as a “vortex of exhaustion, cynicism, and self-criticism.” Wow. But, yep! They all feed each other. The things that used to make you happy about your work now make you unhappy. And, for what it’s worth, I read a study that Gen X’ers were experiencing burnout at higher rates than not only any generation today, but any generation every surveyed. I guess that’s something to brag about – my generation has broken the unhappiness bell curve. Burned out and aching for retirement. No employer wants that guy on their team. Then I read that over forty percent of retirees have an unsatisfactory retirement. Retirement’s not all it’s cracked up to be, they say. Without work, they have no friends and no purpose. The “retirement red zone” is an expression financial professionals use to refer to the five years before and after retirement when you’re supposed to get your financial world in order. Turns out this red zone also refers to getting your non-financial retirement world in order, too – making friends outside of work, developing curiosity to drive your hobbies, especially hobbies that include meeting new people. Learning to structure your day when no one else is telling you how to do it. And then, of course, healthy activity. No retirement is enjoyable if you let your health go. It all makes me wonder, as I feverishly work towards my own retirement, if the emotional and psychological price I’m paying to get there will be worth it? I’m Cam Marston, just trying to keep it real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/38606615

Meeting and Convention Bingo Card 10/10/2025

Meeting and Convention Bingo Card 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, and I’ve identified some meeting and convention themes that have become entirely predictable and that resonate with my people. First – Classic rock music. It will be played as people file in on day one, during every break, and after the final keynote. It will be vanilla classic rock. Nothing too loud, nothing too rebellious. You will certainly hear “Right Now” by Van Halen at least once and see the thinning haired men mouthing “Right Now” along with Sammy Hagar, thinking they’re invisible. Maybe a flash of air guitar on their thigh. You’ll also hear “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” “Uptown Funk,” and “Happy.” “I Got A Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas will close out day one. Count on it. Second – At least one keynoter will deliver a lesson reminding us that children are born full of curiosity only to have adults and formal schooling beat it out of them. “Why do we do this to children?” they’ll always ask. “Why can’t we grow kid’s curiosity instead of take it away?” My people will nod. This content shows up at least once in every conference, guaranteed. Third – Multiple speakers will give examples of how Apple Computer does things differently. Of how Apple sees the world differently. On how Apple’s competitors didn’t see the iPhone coming but the evidence was everywhere. Lots and lots of references to Apple and Apple products. The speaker will extrapolate some sort of grand lesson from Apple. Count on it. Fourth – 80% of presentations will use the word “disruption.” It’s become the meeting and convention word of the century. Someone will tell of Blockbuster being disrupted by Netflix with PowerPoint slides showing the Blockbuster logo. Of Kodak being disrupted by digital cameras, with a slide showing Kodak film next to an iPhone. Count on this, too. Last – there will at least one mention of Warren Buffett and his investing philosophy and how his philosophy applies to much more than investing. None of my people would dare contradict a Buffett pearl of wisdom. Speakers know quoting Buffett will get lots of thinning brown-haired heads nodding. It’s unimpeachable content. I’ve daydreamed of making a Meeting and Convention Bingo cards with squares filled with song titles, predictable Apple stories, predictable disruption stories, and the center square being “How is everyone today? I didn’t hear you! HOW IS EVERYONE TODAY?” I’d pass them out at one of my conferences. They’d get some laughs. And I’d never ever ever ever be invited back. I’m Cam Marston, just trying to keep it real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/38516960

It's Different This Time 10/03/2025

It's Different This Time 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 rarely is it different. For the past few weeks, I’ve been introduced to political leaders across the state and beyond by a friend who thinks things need to change. He’s heard me say on this commentary and in our numerous conversations that I feel our political world today is in dire shape. I’ve wondered aloud on this commentary and in his and my conversations what my obligation to this situation might be. Do I have an obligation to try to change things for no other reason that I’m worried, sometimes panicked, and more than disgusted by what I see and the way people are treating one another. What should I do, if anything? What do I owe this crisis? I’ve also heard myself saying what countless others out there are saying – that this is wrong and someone should do something. What’s wrong? The methods and tactics of today’s political leaders are wrong. The political violence is wrong. The absence of action from those elected to serve in Washington is wrong. The unchecked ransacking of government employees by a private citizen is wrong. The cult-like worship by many Republicans of our president is wrong. The blatant profiteering of the Oval Office is wrong. The list goes on. I’ve said it repeatedly: “Someone should do something.” There are no levers I can pull that truly matter. There are no levers I can pull that will fix this or even slow it down. But the helpless feeling I’ve had has been eased in the past few weeks as I’ve spoken to political influencers about our political environment today. They’ve all agreed with a cry we’ve heard for years and that’s this – if there ever were a time for a third political party to be born and take action, now is that time. The Democrats, God love them, have strayed way too far left for me. I can’t, without completely betraying my beliefs, adopt their platform. However, Republicans look and sound nothing like the party that had my heart years ago. I can find no semblance of what I used to know and love in that party. So, I’ve begun talking to people who share my belief that a third party is acutely needed today. I am collecting their interviews to play on my podcast which, heretofore, has been called What’s Working and had a business focus. Now it’s focus will be what will it take to create a viable third party to represent people like me who have no voice in Washington and have a deep desire for change. Someone should do something. And, in a very small way, I’ve found something I can do. Because, I truly believe, it is different this time. I’m Cam Marston and I’m just trying to Keep it Real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/38429170

Large Adult Pool 09/19/2025

Large Adult Pool On this week's Keepin' It Real, Cam's visit to a hotel on the Gulf this wekend got Cam to thinking about how some people, well, they just don't get it... ----- Tuesday I checked into a hotel in Gulf Shores at the Gulf State Lodge. “Where is the free parking?” I asked. “We don’t have any. You can pay to park or pay a little extra and I’ll park it.” This is the bell staff at the front door. I handed him my car key. “Where is a luggage cart? I have a bunch of stuff to get to my room for my workshop tomorrow.” “Guests aren’t allowed to use luggage carts. Only bell staff.” “So for me to take my stuff to my room I’d need to take multiple trips?” I asked. “Yes. But you can’t leave your stuff here.” “So the only way to comply is to ask you to assist me to my room.” “Something like that. We only allow bell staff to move luggage. Guests can’t move their own luggage.” I’m not liking this. Southern hotels confuse politeness with hospitality. He was very polite. He was not hospitable. What this hotel is thinking is customer service is to me nothing but angling for tips and making my trip more expensive. I’m not happy but trying to not let it get to me. My wife has me writing a gratitude journal because, apparently I’m good at noticing when things conspire against me. The bellman walked my luggage and me to my hotel room and I’m working to change my first impression. Gratitude, I’m repeating to myself. Gratitude. Along the way he pointed to some construction happening between the hotel and the water’s edge and he shared that if I were to come back in the spring my room would overlook a new large adult pool. Oh, man. Did you hear it? This was it. This was going to change things. A dangling modifier. Oh MAN. This is fuel of bad dad jokes. This is candy for self-appointed funny people like me. For centuries dads have pounced on dangling modifiers to get chuckles from strangers and eye rolls from family. The bellman’s laughter would completely change how I felt about this hotel. My mind quickly began preparing. The timing and delivery had to be perfect. I started thinking forward to how and when and where. The bellman helped me into my hotel room and unloaded his sacred luggage cart. I walked to the window and pulled back the curtain. It was time. “So,” I said, “next spring if I were to check in this room and pull back the curtains just like this, I’d get an eye-full or large adults? I’m not so sure I’d want that. Certainly not want to pay extra for that view.” There it was. So well done. Masterfully delivered. I could see no scars around his face or head where his humor had been surgically removed but that could be the only explanation. “No,” he said, “the pool will be large. It will be a large pool.” I gave him twenty dollars, and he turned and pushed his sacred cart into the hall. “Thank you,” he said, stuffing the money into his pocket. He thought it was a tip, but I was paying him to go away. I’m Cam Marston just trying to Keep it Real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/38268440

Mercenaries vs Hessians 09/05/2025

Mercenaries vs Hessians In today's Keepin It Real, Cam Marston laments the significant changes happening to the things that he once believed were fixed in place. Attitudes and beliefs once firmly held are vanishing. Even predictable things like football rankings have been deeply shaken. ----- To say that our world is undergoing a remarkable paradigm shift today is a ridiculous understatement. Each morning I look over the headlines prepared to be blown away by how formerly predictable things are now upside down or simply gone. On the political front, an economist at a meeting a few years back told us it was coming. Political parties flip flop on key issues, he said, suddenly deciding that their power would be enhanced if they adopted the other party’s position. He drew a four quadrant chart, showing how the parties were moving to replace each other on key positions. The Economist Magazine years ago wrote that the Republican’s belief in balanced budgets and free trade would help the world by creating tighter alliances and enhanced dependance between countries to provide goods and services. Today, the Republicans are the party of the tariff and are working to eliminate treaties and alliances. The Democrats are now the ones trying to protect alliances and reduce tariffs. A complete flip flop. How does one abandon deeply held economic principles so quickly? It used to be that the Republicans were the party that championed character and integrity and honesty and truthfulness. They told Nixon they would no longer support him and encouraged him to resign when they learned he had willfully broken the law. They thrashed Bill Clinton when they learned of his affairs, saying he was morally unfit for the Presidency. Today? It’s hard to imagine a leader with more dubious character and lack of ethics. His transgression list is a mile long. And today’s Republicans? Not a word from them about it. They’re good with it. The party of character and integrity is gone. How does one so quickly abandon character and integrity? We all once believed that playing time on the college football field was earned through quietly paying your dues and waiting your turn. We believed that the players on the field had earned their way onto the field and along the way they had developed a loyalty and appreciation for their school. We cheered for them because they had worked hard and waited in line and would love their alma mater just like so many of us do. Today? That’s gone. Each game is the mercenaries versus the hessians. I wonder if they even know what team’s jersey they wear and if they’ve ever been in a classroom at their school. I watch the games but I get sick when the announcer says a player is on his third school in three years. I watch but I don’t like it like I used to. The final paradigm shift is that the mighty Alabama Crimson Tide lost their season opener and is ranked 21st in the second week of the season. Free trade gone. The republican’s loss of ethics. No longer paying your dues to get playing time on the field. None of that compares the paradigm shift of the Tide being ranked 21st in week two. That’s the one that gets me. That’s the one that tells me things have gone squirrely. I bury my head in my hands and worry about what’s next. It can’t be worse than this. I’m Cam Marston and I’m just trying to Keep It Real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/38075785

Pushing Electrons 08/29/2025

Pushing Electrons On this week's Keepin It Real, Cam discusses his largely sedentary life and the fulfillment he gets on the rare occasions he can see the results of his work. ----- Most weeks, my work mainly involves pushing electrons around. I sit at a computer and do stuff. Recently it’s been requests for short training videos for clients to use with their teams. I write scripts, edit scripts and record videos. Other weeks I prepare presentations. Lots of PowerPoint editing, lots of rehearsing content. Lots of time online. Lots of buying tickets. It’s all sedentary stuff. Me plus a keyboard plus a computer plus a screen, pushing electrons. Last Saturday, though, was different. I was in Clark County at my father’s property near Grove Hill. I climbed on a tractor shortly after 7:30am. It’s a small John Deere with a scoop on the front and a mower on the back. I didn’t climb off until well after 2pm. For about seven hours I mowed and pushed downed trees out of roads and fields. I was bitten by every biting insect in North America. My arms and neck got burned. My work pants smelled of diesel fuel. I added a couple more tears to my already torn work TShirt. My socks balled up inside my boots, sweaty, and my back hurt from lifting 50 lb bags of wheat. When I washed my hands, the white sink turned brown with dirt and dust that had stuck to my sweaty arms. A mystery bruise was beginning to ache and turn purple on my shoulder. I sat down in my father’s small camp, told him I’m just going to close my eyes for a second, and fell solidly asleep. And I was deeply deeply happy. Pushing electrons is what I’ve chosen to do for a living. At the end of every day, I typically leave my office with my checklist complete. I make a large one on Monday, add a little bit to it each day, cross some stuff off, and by Friday have largely worked through it. But I do not get the satisfaction of seeing the fruits of my work. At the end of the bricklayer’s workday, he can step back and see the progress he’s made. He started there in the morning and is now finishing here. His progress is easy to see. Pushing electrons doesn’t offer the same satisfaction. But that was not the case last Saturday. Fields and roads were mown. Trees were pushed away. Progress was obvious. And it felt good. And tiring. The soreness was welcome. And the nap on the couch was earned. Fall means it’s time to cut firewood. It’s the wood we’ll use next fall, giving it a year to season and dry on the rack. I love cutting firewood. The feel of the chainsaw, going from tree to log to cut wood pieces to split pieces and the stack slowly growing in front of me. My hands rough and my back aching. Later, a cold beer and college football. And the sleep that night is an earned slumber. I live a largely sedentary life. I go to work and sit. Then on to a meeting and sit. Then on to the next place and sit. A day seeing the progress of my work is needed every now and then. Strangely, the bruises and the soreness and the exhaustion make me feel alive. I’m Cam Marston, just trying to keep it real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/37979335

Zip It 08/21/2025

Zip It On this week’s Keepin’ It Real, Cam has a message for parents whose children are playing high school sports as his youngest children enter their final year of high school. Every high school sport is suffering from a shortage of officials and referees. Zip it, he says, please just zip it. ----- The second contact on a volleyball can be a double contact so long as it’s one attempt and doesn’t go over the net. That’s a new volleyball rule set to begin this season. For years parents in the stands would holler “double” whenever they saw what they thought was a double touch on the ball on the second attempt. Now that rule is gone. Unless you know volleyball, none of this may make any sense. This rule change is a big deal. This school year my favorite youngest son and daughter, our twins, begin what will likely be their final experience with organized sports. They’re high schoolers. Last night my daughter’s first volleyball match of the season was in Birmingham. My wife is her coach. Tonight, my son’s football team plays their first game against their archrival. Both teams require a parent meeting before the season begins. It’s usually held in the school gym or cafeteria and the coaches go over the season’s logistics and such and make their requests of the parents. This may be unique to our school, but my hunch is that it’s the same everywhere. At both this year’s football and volleyball meetings, the coaches implored the parents to leave the referees and officials alone. Both coaches mentioned that there was a shortage of officials. The veteran officials were quitting, and too few new ones were signing up. The reason? One word: parents. In Texas, the association that manages volleyball officials said that if they feel their officials are treated poorly or threatened, which happens, they will not allow the officials to return to that school, effectively forcing the school to forfeit every home match since the home team is responsible for booking officials. And our football coach told the gathered parents that when the game is over, no one is to speak to the officials. They are to be allowed to leave the field and go to their cars without a word from the fans. Violations of this may result in the offending parent not being allowed back into the stadium. And the problem is spiraling. Since the veteran officials are leaving, the few new ones are being accelerated through their training and are now officiating games at speeds and skill levels beyond their little experience. They’re doing the best they can but likely making poor calls due to inexperience. The parents are losing their minds. And referees and officials are wondering if the little they earn filling this role for the kids and for the sake of the sport is worth it. It’s hard to argue differently. All this is certainly a part of something larger in our nation today. And I don’t have time right now to hypothesize on what that may be. Just know this: The second contact on a volleyball can be a double contact so long as it’s one attempt and doesn’t go over the net. It’s a new rule. If you see it differently, zip it. The same goes for the holding call. And your fast-food order, that guy in traffic who cut you off, and the reservation agent on the phone. Just zip it. There are already too few people willing to do the job, whatever it is. I’m Cam Marston and I’m just trying to Keep It Real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/37902270

Arrogance 08/15/2025

Arrogance On this week’s Keepin It Real, there are some arrogant folks showing up in Cam’s life these days. They don't’ commiserate with Cam’s struggles. Instead, they gloat... ----- This is a commentary about a specific kind of quiet arrogance. It’s in the background. But you know it when you hear it. These people are “just reporting the truth,” as they may say. It’s not truth. It’s haughty arrogance. And I’ll tell you where I’ve run up against it recently. The first is citrus arrogance. I planted a satsuma tree in my yard many years ago and it has never produced one satsuma. I talk it. I water it. I play it Gloria Estafan. It’s leafy and broad and growing, but no fruit. When I ask gardeners, their arrogance explodes. “Oh man!” they say. “My satsuma tree is overcome with satsumas. I bag them and give them to family. Then I bag more and give them to neighbors. Then I bag more and leave them on my curb hoping someone will take them away. I can’t get close to the tree there are so many on the ground. You can probably see them from outer space. I have vitamin C poisoning. Even my dog is eating them” and on and on. “You know,” I say, “You don’t have to boast so much about your dang tree.” “Hey! I’m just reporting the truth.” “Yes. A little too loudly” is my reply. My neighbor says his Satsumas taste like Starburst Fruit Chew candy and he gets tired of eating them. Ugh. Next are hummingbird people. “Do you have any hummingbirds yet,” they ask. “Yes,” I’ll reply. “The first one arrived a week or so ago. It’s a little female.” “Wow,” they shoot back. “I think I have fifty. Maybe a hundred. I feel like I’m in some sort of war zone with so many hummingbirds flying by my face and the sounds of their wings. You’ve heard what one bird’s wings sounds like? Imagine a hundred buzzing all over the place. It’s a roar. I added a few more feeders to allow them to spread out but they brought in more hummingbirds. I think I have two hundred now. Maybe a thousand. I can’t hardly go outside anymore. Aren’t they magical?” Yes. Like you disappearing right now would be magical. “Hey! I’m just reporting the truth,” they say. Blech. Finally, orchid people. I have a knotty cypress stump full of holes and I want help turning it into an orchid planter. But having an orchid person in Alabama, Georgia, or Florida call me back with some advice is darn near impossible. “Ha!” I can hear them saying, “If he doesn’t know how to do that, he won’t learn it from me! Our orchid club is closed.” They can cite every orchid’s family, genus, and species articulated perfectly in Latin and they flash a look of contempt when you can’t do the same. It’s a club and they’re quick to point out that you’re not in it. And they won’t tell you how to get in and they won’t return your calls even if you leave several messages at the so called “Master Gardener Hotline.” Which is a crock. They’ll deny it of course. “We’re not arrogant,” they’ll say. “We’re not hoarding information. We’re not trying to keep you out.” Ha. I’m just reporting the truth. I’m Cam Marston and I’m just trying to Keep It Real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/37803945

Lucy 08/08/2025

Lucy On this week’s Keepin It Real, Cam and his family grieve the loss of their family pet. It was sudden. Their dog, Lucy, was with them for nine and a half years and they buried her late at night in the back yard. ----- The saying is that our dogs will greet us when we get to heaven. I sure hope so. We lost Lucy, our family pet of nine and a half years last night in what was one of the most tragic and heartbreaking nights I’ve ever been a part of. What was diagnosed as kennel cough turned into something different. At 9:30 I was preparing for bed. At 11:30 I was shoveling dirt on top of Lucy’s grave along with my wife and children. We had been at the emergency animal hospital in hopes that they could do something. The dog died in my wife’s arms on the way as I was furiously driving through red lights with the hazard lights flashing and sobs from my wife and daughters crying out. I’ll never forget it. Lucy was a good dog. She was my wife’s dog. We’ve wondered repeatedly what we missed seeing, what we did wrong, my wife especially. Lots of tears late last night. Lots of tears this morning. Losing the dog was hard. Watching my wife lose the dog is what’s hurting so bad. What is it about the magic of a dog that captures us so? Why do we connect to them so well? So deeply? People have grieved over the loss of pets for centuries. The Egyptians mummified their dogs so they would join them in the afterlife. Odysseus’s dog, Argos, recognizes him after twenty years and Odysseus struggles to hold back tears and that story was written in the 8th century BCE. Dogs make meaningful eye contact. They show emotions. Their personalities become parts of our households. We talk to them. We complain to them. We sing to them. They never complain. They never walk away. They live fully in each moment, and their main aim in life is to please you and me, all for a simple scratch or a belly rub. All they want are these short moments of interaction. I didn’t realize how much I liked Lucy. She and I had a simple ritual each morning when she’d come to my morning reading chair and place her chin on my knee and ask for attention. I made a fuss of putting my book and coffee down and scratching her, telling her she was selfish and greedy, but I loved it that she wanted my attention; that my attention meant so much to her. I didn’t realize how much I liked her and that I’d be missing her so much right now. I can see the fresh dirt along the fence in the back yard from the grave we dug last night. There were lots of tears as each of us took turns tossing dirt into the grave. In time the leaves and pine straw will cover the dirt and Lucy will fade in our memories like the other dogs we’ve had. But this one is hurting right now. And the only joy I can find in any of it is the image of Lucy waiting in heaven for my wife. Tail wagging. Head up. Front feet tapping in anticipation. You were a good dog, Lucy. You’ll be missed. I’m Cam Marston and I’m just trying to Keep It Real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/37708795

Talent Was Never The Issue 07/25/2025

Talent Was Never The Issue This week on Keepin It Real Cam Marston has noticed a trend amongst his empty nester friends and what their hobbies become once the kids are gone. The predictability of it gives him comfort. ----- In my part of the world, the female empty nester is an interior designer or painter who has been caged by her responsibilities as a mother and once the kids are gone, they finally step into their lifelong artistic fulfillment. It’s a distinct pattern around here. The number of friends my wife and I have who start throwing paint on a canvas or buying furniture at market after the kids are gone is phenomenal. From what I can tell, they subscribe to Architectural Digest or Southern Living magazines and recreate what they see when they decorate their friend’s houses. Or they have an untapped and remarkable talent for tossing a menagerie of paint colors onto a broad canvas and selling it as a home accent piece at their kid’s school fundraiser or in a corner at their friend’s gallery. It’s not a painting of anything, it’s just colors. They’re going to be rich and famous from their innate ability to create color combinations differently than anyone ever before them, certainly different from anyone around here. Their friends, standing leaning on one hip and holding their stemless wine goblet, ooooh and ahhhh at these masterpieces and offer compliments more effusive than anything Michaelangelo ever got. These same friends unwittingly compare their friends interior design projects with what they just saw in Architectural Digest or Southern Living while they were waiting at the orthodontist with their children. Some of these empty nested women become jewelers. Some become elite, specialized travel agents. Eventually they all sadly back away from their remarkable, God-given talent, find pickleball and only take on special projects for insistent friends. The cost to establish themselves full time in the business was simply too high to continue. Talent was never the issue. I suspect something similar can be said for the men around here. Once the kids are gone they seem to grow. Eating takes priority when the kids have left the house. They become very interested in the preparing and then doting on brisket or boston butt as it slowly gets to the golden zone, all having powerful theories about getting the meat through what they call “the stall” when the temperature stops rising. Lots of time spent talking in a group standing next to an elaborate cooking device, beer in a koozie held waist high by the top of the can - each complaining that they have more koozies than they know what to do with - and discussing the stall and other brisket or Boston butt mysteries. Then they touch on college football. Then golf. Then hunting or fishing. And then they eat. I suppose I should welcome this predictability in my world. If any one of these empty nesters suddenly declared they were meant to be a puppeteer or a mime or a treasure hunter I’d worry about them. So long as they’re meant to be a painter, an interior designer, or talk a lot about meat, I know my world is in order. All is right and well and good. Like it or not, I’m home amongst my people. I’m Cam Marston and I’m just trying to Keep it Real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/37533575

Haters 07/18/2025

Haters On this week's Keepin It Real, Cam Marston got some blowback from a social media post this week. He asks us, "How do you deal with haters?" ----- One year ago, I set a goal to paddle board across Mobile Bay. I completed that goal in May. The second part of the goal was to write about the challenge and be paid to have it printed. That was completed last week when the story was carried in Mobile Bay Magazine. I will get a small payment in a week or so. A year’s planning, researching, note-taking, exercising, preparing and lots of paddling later, the goal was entirely met. Pretty cool. Yesterday, Mobile Bay magazine made posts about my paddle with links taking readers to the story and I received a good bit of social media attention as a result. The vast majority of the social media comments were very positive and congratulatory. Today’s commentary is about the ones that weren’t. No sooner had the magazine posted the story than a handful of people jumped in to denigrate my effort. Some said that my paddle across the Bay wasn’t that hard and that they could do it. Essentially, my effort wasn’t worthy of the attention I was receiving. Others said they know people who swim across the bay and that my paddle, again, wasn’t much of an accomplishment. And let me say again, the vast majority of comments were very positive, but what makes people want to attack other’s accomplishments? What triggers haters? There’s a type of person that simply can’t let others be acknowledged without debasing their achievements. Unfortunately, they’re everywhere. They lurk in shadows waiting to leap out and knock down someone’s efforts. Is it possible to scroll through social media and NOT attack other’s success? Certainly. But some can’t. Or won’t. What is it about these people? Remarkably, I sat this morning after reading some of these comments and began questioning if my paddle board crossing was truly that hard? Maybe they were right? Did I overblow the effort seeking some sort of vainglory? It didn’t take long for me to answer No. All aspects of this goal were a difficult challenge and when I finished crossing the Bay the pain and exhaustion I felt were very real. A superhero athlete could have done it easily. Me? It was a true struggle. Discouragement is a powerful drug. It’s meant to stoke the ego of the pusher. And the ego, unchecked, always compares, elevates and separates. It says I’ve judged you, I’m different and I’m better. It’s the motive of the hater. I knew none of the people who tried to devalue my effort. I think none of them knew me. Anonymity is key to haters. If there is a message here, it’s one you and I have already heard before - it’s to keep achieving. Keep making things happen. Set goals, do bold and audacious things. Let the haters try to knock you down but don’t flinch. Don’t even turn your head. Accept helpful criticism but ignore the rest. Because when they’re judging, evaluating and separating they’re dying inside due to their personal weakness. We’ll never be rid of them, but we can devalue them. And maybe, in time, like gnats and mosquitos, they’ll go away. I’m Cam Marston and I’m just trying to keep it real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/37427725

The Power of Cheese 07/11/2025

The Power of Cheese On this week's Keepin It Real, Cam and a client discuss employee retention issues and he shares and idea that may get you through any business turmoil that may lie ahead. ----- On a call with an upcoming client this week I was discussing one of their challenges. They’re having a hard time recruiting and retaining young talent. “But here’s something we did recently,” my client said, “that may have some sort of impact. We added a snack pantry to the office kitchen and it’s been a huge hit.” "Tell me more," I said. “Well,” she said. “Our young employees know they should have health insurance, and they do, and they know they should have a 401k, which they do. But neither of those items are very important to young people who seldom need those things right now. They’re like a boxes that needs to be checked – and they are - but they aren’t very fun. So, we decided to add something that our young employees could use right now. We added a snack panty and included a new refrigerator.” She said, “I fill the pantry each week with new and different snacks. Some healthy and some not healthy. They love it and have told me so.” Other than people happily snacking in the kitchen, I asked, has there been any other benefit? I mean a snack pantry and a new refrigerator is a high price to pay just to get happy snackers. “We invested in a fancy coffee maker,” she said. “It grinds the beans for each cup and it can make hot chocolate. It takes a moment or two to make each cup. In the kitchen we added an island. And while people are waiting for their coffee, they stand around the island and talk.” I reminded her that during the pandemic, a big complaint from corporate types was that creativity in the workplace was taking a hit due to a lack of spontaneous interactions. There are no spontaneous interactions over Zoom or on a Teams call. Bumping into someone and catching up often stimulates new ideas and there are buckets of business school case studies about this. The Pixar movie Toy Story, in fact, was supposed to be as good as it was due to Pixar people and Apple people chatting in common areas when they were making the movie and shared office space. They’d bump into each other and talk about the plot. “That’s happening,” she said. “Around the island, they catch up with each other and discuss their work and projects. It’s become an unexpected benefit of the snack kitchen. We’d be foolish to shoo them away or hurry them back to their desks.” Back in the day the tech companies offered pinball machines and foosball tables in break rooms? Remember this? I thought that was crazy. Could it be, though, that this iPhone in my hand was conceived by two workers standing next to each other at a foosball table discussing an idea that eventually led to this phone? And could it be that the next major business breakthrough comes from a pack of string cheese you put in the office fridge and then sent a Teams message that read “Free string cheese in the fridge. Please help yourself.” Worried about tariffs? Worried about a recession? Consider the potential of string cheese. It’s an idea so powerful you’d think it originated in Washington DC. I’m Cam Marston and I’m just trying to Keep It Real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/37350475

July Fourth, Twenty Twenty Five 07/04/2025

July Fourth, Twenty Twenty Five On today's Keepin It Real, Cam wishes us a happy Independence Day and reminds us that on July 4th, 1776, nearly thirty percent of the population didn't want it. ----- Happy Fourth of July. Our nation’s independence. It’s a big deal. I don’t think we feel it today like generations did in the past. The significance of it is likely lost on many of us. Those that fought in wars have a different type of appreciation for the Fourth of July but there are so many fewer of them today than there were. In 1980, about twenty percent of our population had served in the military. Today that number is closer to six percent. And less than three percent of our adult population has ever seen combat, this all from ChatGPT, by the way. So the veterans that have a special connection to July Fourth are such a small, small group. To most of us, today is a day where we sleep in a bit, get outside a bit, and hope to end the night with all ten fingers intact after shooting fireworks. We’ll certainly see those stories on social media tomorrow– please don’t let it be you. And in our remarkably divided country, both sides will make passionate speeches about liberty and freedom. Both sides will make claims that they’re defending the country evil, which is the other party. Both sides will get cheers for their stances and jeer at the other party for theirs. Both sides convinced the other side is the root of nearly every problem from dud firecrackers to eczema to their bike’s flat tire. “What do I do about this?”, I asked a friend last week. “What is my responsibility to this turmoil? To this hate?” She lives and works in New York City and had her non-profit’s funding eliminated. Her answer was simple. Go talk to people, she said. Simply try to be a nice person. Try to understand. Maybe we will see the humanity in the other person and, we hope, they’ll see it in us. Another I spoke to this week said he believes in pendulum swings and right now the pendulum has swung far in one direction. And just like a pendulum, the momentum can only last so long before it stops and reverses course. We celebrate July 4th for the bold decisions that led to the world we live in today. But in 1776 as much as thirty percent of the population opposed independence. And as much as forty percent didn’t care one way or the other. Again, all of this courtesy of my new best friend ChatGPT. So, in 1776, a minority of our nation, about forty five percent, made cataclysmic decisions that we live with today. There must have been very heated discussions. Massive assumptions about those they disagreed with. However, to be able to discuss the direction our country is going in, to have a role in it, however small, I think we can agree, is a privilege. So today, for me, I’m going to focus on my good fortune to live in a place where I have some small input into our nation’s direction. Though I feel like honesty, civility, and character are out of fashion right now, I believe the pendulum will eventually swing back. And, perhaps, I can speed up it’s return by having some sincere conversations with people I disagree with. Consider joining me, please. Let’s do this together. I’m Cam Marston and I’m just tyring to Keep it Real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/37260725

How Do We Get Off This Wheel? 06/27/2025

How Do We Get Off This Wheel? A beach conversation earlier this week caught Cam's attention. And he asks if we've ever had so many known solutions to a common problem and ignored them? ----- At a family event earlier this week I asked eight members of my extended family who liked their work. Six people did not their work. Some hated their jobs. Some were just ready for something new. And some were actively looking for new jobs but only something they’d enjoy and were struggling to find anything that they thought they’d enjoy. One had weeks to go before retiring at age sixty. Rather than go to sixty-five, he decided to get out early. His young-ish retirement added risk to whether his savings would last but he was willing to accept that risk - he couldn’t take his work anymore. The youngest participant in the conversation was thirty, so it wasn’t workplace veterans vs workplace newbies. It was across the ages. I wondered: Is this typical? Does seventy five percent of the workforce dislike their work? And some so much that they will accept more risk in their retirement to bug out early? These questions led me back to some notes I took while listening to a podcast a while ago. Ezra Klein interviewed the author, whose name I didn’t write down, and the author said some fascinating things: First – Our society continues to create conditions that are at odds with human flourishing. And, per this guy, we know this! Yet we continue to do it. So, I thought, are jobs that are being offered and created today at odds with flourishing? What would a job that facilitated human flourishing look like? Is it even possible? Do I know anyone that has one? Second – Few people know what they want. Only that they don’t want “this”, whatever this is. The don’t want the work they have, only that there must be something better. But what? Most people have no idea. Third – We have a good idea of what a good life should look like and be BUT we seldom pursue it. And, he said, we train our kids to not pursue it. Third – Our desires today DON’T lead to flourishing. They lead to loneliness. Ask yourself - what are your desires? And be honest – will getting them help you flourish or make you lonely? Or lonelier? Finally, the author said there are three things that lead to flourishing: Education, Religion and Art. Not spirituality. Religion. And there are less of all these things today. Less practice of them. Less study of them. Less pursuit of them. Less pushing our kids toward them. And yet, per the author, they are, and always have been, the keys to happiness. What does it mean that we know the solutions to our unhappiness problems and ignore them. What does it mean that those in influencer positions in our workplace could create elements of jobs that would make others be happier? But we instead follow – and participate in and help create and push our kids into - a culture that ignores the answers? Has a society ever had known solutions to known problems and simply ignored them? I’m wresting with this. It tough. How do we get off this wheel? I’m Cam Marston and I’m just trying to keep it real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/37162915

Alabama Writers Showcase 06/20/2025

Alabama Writers Showcase On 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. ----- 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. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/37062215

Dancing Lady Orchid 06/13/2025

Dancing Lady Orchid On this week's Keepin It Real, is Cam talking to his plants? Talking to himself. Both? And what's the message? ----- I use this commentary quite a bit as therapy. If I’m trying to work something out, I’ve learned that writing about it then speaking it helps in some way or another. One of the most recent themes that regular listeners may recognize is this transition into whatever the next chapter of my life will be. Every morning, the mirror reflects the changes taking place on the outside and I wonder when the change will impact the inner parts of me. My mother used to get up in the mornings, get her coffee, and in her robe go out onto her back patio and check on her plants. I remember her bending over them and touching some of them and then talking to them a bit. Maybe she’d clip a flower whose bloom had faded and offer some encouragement to the plant to send her another flower. I thought it was ridiculous up until a few weeks ago when I realized I was now doing it, too. A coffee, a step onto the patio, a visit to my orchids that, people tell me, should be inside but sure appear happier outside. My one-year-old potted lemon tree that is putting on so much growth but, as yet, no lemons. I give it a short motivational speech – you can do it lemon tree. I see your potential. You have what it takes. You’re a good-looking tree and I can tell your lemons will be great. Focus. Stay the course. I’ll take care of you. Then on to the staghorn fern that hangs at the corner of the patio that’s doing so well. I gently touch the fronds and compliment the fern on such strong and green shoots. My last visit every morning is to my oncidium orchid, better known as a dancing lady orchid. That orchid and I have been together a long time. It grows well. It appears happy. I changed its soil earlier in the spring and put it back in the same pot and gave it a good bit of orchid food. It quickly put on big new leaves and it continues to show, from all I can see on the outside, that it’s happy. But it hasn’t bloomed in a long while. I check every day for a tiny bloom spike to show me that it’s truly happy and wants to express its joy, but nothing. And I say to it, “You have everything I know how to give you for you to thrive. But it’s like you’re waiting for something more, some big out side force to identify that there’s something inside of you that you need to take that next big leap forward to express your joy. You’re waiting for something to excite you and tease you into blooming again, for you to give the world what you know is in there, aching to come out and share. But you’re not sure what’s in there and how to get it out. When you were younger and smaller, getting you to bloom wasn’t hard. Today, though, I can see that inside you, something missing.” And I take my coffee back inside, and sit quietly for a while, realizing what I’ve just said. I’m Cam Marston and I’m just trying to Keep It Real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/36970065

The Crossing 06/06/2025

The Crossing Saturday afternoon, Cam was on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay. On this week's Keepin' It Real, he tells us how he got there. ----- I was reminded about fear on Saturday. And, strangely, it was exactly what I had hoped for. Last July, I decided it was time to test myself. I had been comfortable for too long. It was time to be afraid again. Not the fear that comes danger and helplessness or the fear of someone saying Boo, but the fear that comes from gathering the wits and the strength to get yourself out of a tough situation. In my experience, that’s the fear the makes you feel alive. So I decided to attempt paddling on a stand up paddleboard the full way across Mobile Bay. Just me, all by myself, on the open water. I have a sort of phobia about being in the open water. It’s not a crippling phobia but it’s there. At night in bed when I thought about the paddling alone across the bay, that fear of being alone, in the middle of the water on my board kept me from getting to sleep. I’d have to face this fear head on to meet my goal. I calculated that the crossing should take me about four hours. The bay is just shy of eleven miles wide where I wanted to cross. I set about training with the goal of being able to paddle a solid three hours, hoping that adrenaline during the crossing would give me the additional hour I needed to complete it. What started last July came to fruition this past Saturday. The weather was good but not great. When I pushed away from the shore just north of the mouth of Dog River, the wind was blowing out of the north about 11 mph. To head east toward my target, I had to paddle hard northeast and get blown south. Two hours after starting I was in the middle of the bay struggling to keep my mind from ambushing me. I was in the open water, there was no one anywhere near me, and if I needed help I’d have to call on my cell phone for someone to launch their boat and come find me. Fear was percolating. I was no longer facing it, I was in it. My estimate of four hours was badly off, perhaps due to not factoring the cross wind into my training. My arms ached, my legs were trembling with fatigue, and my right lat was seizing into cramps. The eastern shore of Mobile Bay didn’t seem to be getting any closer. I was focusing on keeping my thoughts from getting out of control and finding energy for another stroke. Then another. Then another. Five hours and twenty minutes after launching I touched the eastern shore of Mobile Bay. I was exhausted and could only sit for twenty minutes before attempting to stand. I made it, though. I did it. Every so often it’s important to remind yourself that you can do hard things. That you can face fear and get through it. And to know you have completed something that you will never ever, ever, try to do again. I’m Cam Marston and I’m just trying to keep it real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/36870810

Rounding Up 05/30/2025

Rounding Up On this week's Keepin It Real, Cam Marston stands at the register at a coffee shop and what comes out of his mouth is a complete surprise to him. ----- Last week I bought a coffee and a T-Shirt at a coffee shop. And at that awkward moment when the person at the register spins the pad around for me to sign and enter a tip amount, I asked the guy “How much should I tip you for this?” I’ve never asked that question before. The moment I thought about asking it was after I had said it. Tipping has gotten out of hand. A few weeks back at a hotel in Colorado, every transaction at the hotel automatically included a 25% tip and then space on the bill to add more. At the hotel coffee shop, I’d buy a coffee, they’d hand me an empty cup and point me to the coffee pots across the way, and then ask for a tip. Then ask me to “round up” for some sort of something, adding more money to the transaction. You and I are paying a lot more for what we used to get and then doing the work ourselves. More and more people want you and me to add money to our transactions for doing their job. I know I sound old and curmudgeonly but, dang it, it’s getting out of hand. That’s why this transaction at the coffee shop stood out. “How much should I tip you for this?” I asked. The guy said, “Nothing. I’ve done my job. I poured you a coffee and rung you up in the register. You don’t even want a bag for your T Shirt. There is no tip necessary.” I wept. I tell people that if I order food or drink standing up I don’t tip. You shouldn’t tip for service if you’re standing. That’s what I say. That’s my rule. However, follow me around you’d see that I seldom obey my own rule. That awkward moment when the person at the register is waiting for you to add your tip so they can complete the transaction. They’re watching and I give in nearly every time. I’m weak. Similarly, my wife and I recently changed homeowners insurance. I then got an email to download their contractor’s app and a page of instructions about how to use their app to take photos and videos of my house so they can confirm the insurance quote. In addition to downloading the app, it would require complex passwords, two-step authentications, and, likely headaches and time on the phone with their service team. Though branding it as a simple tool that wouldn’t take much time, they were asking me to do their job. I simply replied to the email that I’m not going to do it. That’s their job, that’s what I’m paying them for. I could sense the eye-rolls on the other side and they said they’d send out a representative to collect the information. A small win. If you agree with me, if you’re frustrated about paying more and more for what you’re getting and doing their job along the way, let me hear from you. Send me a donation and I’ll continue to beat this drum on our behalf. And don’t forget to round up. I’m Cam Marston and I’m just trying to Keep it Real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/36758560

Wisdom Is More Important Than Smarts 05/16/2025

Wisdom Is More Important Than Smarts This week Cam offers some insight to new college graduates on some basic workplace skills that will make them effective in their workplace. He’s advised his clients for over twenty years on these things, maybe he should have something worthwhile to say. ----- My daughter graduated from college in May. After 20+ years advising companies and 7+ years interviewing workplace leaders on my What’s Working with Cam Marston radio show and podcast, I realized I should have some useful advice for her—and others—stepping into the next chapter. This is lesson number one called Wisdom is more important than Smarts. You can follow the upcoming lesson on my Linkedin page. Last week, after giving a speech in Atlanta, a young man approached me with a familiar question: “How do I deal with my Gen Z employee who’s been here a year and now wants a leadership role—or else he’s leaving?” I’ve heard this one for about ten years. First, it was Millennials asking this of Gen X leaders. Now, it’s Gen Z asking it of Millennials. So, what’s changed? We raised our kids in a culture of constant praise and reward. We applauded nearly everything. They didn’t ask for it—we gave it to them, believing it was the right thing to do. But it created expectations: follow the rules, don’t mess up, and a reward will come. And while that may work in classrooms and sports, the workplace plays by different rules. Competence may get you in the game, but leadership requires wisdom. Wisdom isn’t knowing how to do the job. It’s knowing when, where, why, and with whom. It’s built over time—by watching people, seeing how decisions ripple through teams, and understanding the bigger picture. Can wisdom be accelerated? Maybe—but only through pain and loss. A job falling apart. A serious illness. Hard-earned experience. And nobody wants that path. Wisdom teaches restraint: What not to say What not to email What not to escalate What attention not to attract Wisdom also teaches self-awareness: What do I do well? What energizes me? Where am I weak? What kind of feedback helps me improve? Even the smartest new hire with the highest GPA won’t have those answers yet. Because wisdom requires time. There is no shortcut. No cheat code. In fact, the moment someone says, “I’ve been here a year; I’m ready to lead,” they reveal the very lack of wisdom that disqualifies them. So, for my daughter—and others in her shoes—here’s what I’d say: 1. Focus on what you’re learning. Beyond task lists, study people and power dynamics. What makes leaders effective and likable? Who persuades without authority—and how? Who’s trusted? Who’s not? Why? What subtle behaviors win or lose influence? 2. Build relationships. Meet people inside and outside your org. Listen deeply. Ask “why” a lot. And speak less—questions build more respect than fast answers. And finally: stop counting the days. Keep your head up. Watch closely. Learn quickly. Adjust often. Wisdom sneaks in when you least expect it—and that’s what turns a worker into a leader. I’m Cam Marston an I’m just trying to keep it real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/36567830

Blaine Got The Call 05/09/2025

Blaine Got The Call On this week's Keepin It Real, lots of people celebrated last week. Cam was one of them. It was a case of determination unwavering belief that was finally rewarded. ----- So, after six years, Blaine finally got the call. I remember during the pandemic my wife and I rode our children’s bikes down the center of the street late one evening to our friend’s house for a cocktail. It was strange to have no traffic at that hour. At their house we sat outside and chatted for a while. Blaine was home and he and his sister stood in the back yard playing an improvised game hitting ping pong balls with a dowel across the yard. They’d toss it and smack it. I marveled at how hard it must be to hit such a tiny ball with a tinier bat but they both did, repeatedly. Having fun with each other while they were sent home from school, waiting for the pandemic to ease so they could return to their worlds. I hoped they wouldn’t ask me to take a swing. I would never have made contact. Blaine was a solid player in high school. Then an even better player in college. Then he stood out in single a, then double a, and now in triple a. At each level, he figured out how to succeed, winning awards along the way. And whenever he was at home visiting his parents and friends, he was a nice guy. We like him. Everyone does. That was clear at his wedding. He has a deep support system. And Blaine finally got the call. Along the way, Blaine had developed an army of supporters. Coaches, teachers, parents, pastors, friends, neighbors, church congregations. We’d each invested a small piece of our hearts along the way, and each of us harbored a silent hope that that this young man’s determination would pay off. He never wavered. We saw something enviable in him. It wasn’t only his remarkable baseball talent. It was his belief in himself. Thursday, a cancelled flight stranded my wife and me in Colorado. We tried to make the best of it. Today is a great day, my wife said, because the experts say that just saying that can change your attitude. So, we sat with a drink, determined that it was a great day. I heard her gasp as she looked into her phone. Blaine’s mom and dad had checked out of their beach hotel in Florida after just a few hours and were driving home to catch a flight. Blaine was playing that night in Arlington and then on Tuesday in Boston. They would be there. No questions, because Blaine finally got the call. My wife and Blaine’s mom spoke. Her eyes got wet. Blaine’s mom and dad were busting it down I-10, vacation abandoned. After hundreds and hundreds of games and countless more practices and dues paying, Blaine finally got the call. He had never wavered. He was headed to the majors. My wife and I toasted Blaine and his family, now both of our eyes wet, on this great day. Because Blaine finally got the call. And in a way, we all did. Good luck, Blaine. Win or lose, we got your back. All of us. Count on it. I’m Cam Marston and I’m just trying to keep it real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/36459695

Practitioner 04/25/2025

Practitioner On this week's Keepin It Real, Cam wonders if we have what it takes any more. If the thumbs up button is as far as we'll go or as much as we'll do. ----- David Brooks wrote a column in the New York Times last week calling for a, quote “comprehensive national civic uprising.” There are well over four thousand comments with most being something along the lines of “Yes. It’s about time. Someone should do something.” Brooks’ says the Trump administration has gone too far, that we are indeed in a constitutional crisis, and it’s time to act. But, I wonder, do we have what it takes to act? Or have we gotten used to saying “yeah, that’s a problem but it’s someone else’s problem, not mine” and maybe hit the thumbs up button. I’m going to change the subject. I’ve had some tense conversations with my Christian friends when I tell them that it’s much easier to worship than to be a practitioner of their faith. Worshipping Jesus is easy. We go to church. We pray before meals. We ask for blessings in his name. Maybe wear a crucifix. That’s worshipping. It’s public. Visible. And, frankly, easy compared to what he actually asked us to do. “Don’t bother with worshiping me,” he essentially said. “Follow me.” Do what I do. Behave the way I behave. Luke, Chapter Six, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord and not do what I tell you?” There many similar versus throughout the New Testament. But do any of us have what it takes to do what he told us? Few. Very few. Because that’s hard and, today, puts us at odds with what’s happening in our nation. “I’m good with the Lord. I went to Church on Easter.” Well how about that guy who was sent mistakenly to prison in El Salvador? We say, “Yea. That’s awful. He shouldn’t have been caught up in whatever he was caught up with. I’ll pray for him.” And that’s it. But if we were truly practitioners, not simply worshippers, what would we do to help he imprisoned, he poor, the neglected? We’d do something active with our feet, not simply bring our hands together and mention the poor guy over grace before dinner. Does this nation today, supposedly packed with Christians, have what it takes to act Christ-like anymore? Or are we all so fat and content that we let abuses fly and we’ll simply click the thumbs-up and offer our BS thoughts and prayers? I’m disgusted by what’s happening out there. I’m disgusted by the way so many of the Universities and law firms, supposedly bastions established to spread open thinking and to uphold democracy, are rolling over like puppies on the teat. There are protesters, but I’m disgusted by how many of us – me included – are watching and not practicing our faith. We were once a proud nation who pitied the banana republics run by bullies with no character and integrity. We would act to protect the weak, the poor, the vulnerable. Whether you agreed with or not, we knew this country would act. Now, we don’t even act on it inside our own borders. We are a nation supposedly full of Christians who, despite what our Christ asked of us, feel contented to only worship and not practice our faith. Prove me wrong. Please! I’m Cam Marston and I’m just trying to Keep It Real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/36284120

Prom 04/18/2025

Prom On this week's Keepin' It Real, Cam tells us that based on a series of recent events, he has two people he'd like offer up as potentially superb spies. ----- My twins are high school juniors, and prom was last Saturday night. The event went something like this: For my son: He brought his Joseph Banks suit downstairs about noon. It looked like it had been in a pile on the floor since he last wore it in March. There was a button-down shirt with it. My wife took the clothes and began steaming the wrinkles out. She asked “What flowers did you get your date.” A blank look. “Go to Publix and get some flowers. We’ll make something.” He returned with one hydrangea. My wife quietly returned to Publix and came home with an assortment of flowers and began making a bouquet. My son borrowed my dress shoes. For my daughter: She called her older sister earlier in the week and asked if she could return from college and help her with her hair for prom. Saturday, early afternoon, for about an hour, the two sat in front of a mirror and pre-prepped her hair. My prom-bound daughter left the house, hair in giant rollers, for the next stop in her pre-prom prep tour at someone’s house. There she would follow her sister’s instructions on getting the hair to the next step. Her dress was hermetically sealed in a bag to be opened only when put on. Walking to her car she carried an assortment of bags including make-up, clothes, hair dryers, and miscellaneous things I couldn’t ID. And a Stanley cup in her hand, of course. My son and his buddies stood together for pictures in a yard where they collected before prom. Parents quickly snapped photos before the boys wandered off. They looked disinterested and annoyed by the photos. My daughter and her friends, now fully primped, posed in front of a fountain downtown, while one of their friend’s mothers, a photographer, posed the girls individually, then in pairs, then as a group. Per the photos, the girls appeared happy to comply. The next day, parents were sent a link to a website where we could review and download the photos we liked. At prom the boys sat on the stage, from what we heard, looking over the sight and largely talking amongst themselves. The girls stood in front of the DJ and danced. There may have been some co-mingled dancing toward the 10pm hour, but those details remain shrouded. The DJ, they said, was good. From there, my son went to a friend’s house for a late meal cooked by parents, and they slept on sofas and mattresses in a den. He arrived home about noon the next day. My daughter was treated to a night in a hotel for a friend’s birthday where she shared a room with three friends. They gabbed until late, discussing the particulars of the evening. She arrived home about the same time as my son. Both looked tired. Dinner Sunday night, my wife and I asked, “How was prom?” “Good,” they both replied. “Tell us about it. What happened?” “Nothin’.” “Nothing? Really?” “Nope. Nothin’. Just prom.” After all that, we get “Nothin. Just prom.” Tight lipped, no details, close to the vest, tell us nothing. They should work for the CIA. Maybe they do. I’m Cam Marston and I’m just trying to keep it real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/36189535

To AI or Not AI. That Is The Question. 04/11/2025

To AI or Not AI. That Is The Question. On today's Keepin' it Real, Cam reports on a writer's conference he attended last weekend where a good part of the conversation was about using AI. All the writers, Cam reports, choose to not use it, preferring to remain "pure." ----- I attended a writers' conference last Saturday. Writers are a curious breed, convinced their unique perspective on describing something as mundane as a sunset is groundbreaking and essential. I love them. But they’re weird. This year, though, a frequent topic was artificial intelligence – how do writers use it, if at all. Speaker after speaker claimed they don’t use the stuff, choosing instead to remain “pure.” Huh, I thought. I wonder if mathematicians once dismissed calculators because they weren’t pure. Or cooks refused kitchen blenders because electrified blending wasn’t pure. Or the ancient Chinese dismissed matches because fire made from flint and steel was somehow more pure. "AI just doesn't have a soul," the authors seemed to be saying "It can't experience love, loss, or regret." True enough, but then again, neither does my toaster, and it still reliably performs its job every morning without any existential angst. Plus, it doesn't complain when I burn the toast. Truth be told, I wanted to agree with the speakers wholeheartedly. Part of me wanted to stand triumphantly on my chair, fist raised high, shouting, "Yes! AI can’t possibly write the way we can! Its unpure." But as I sat listening, I couldn’t help remembering countless times when I've stared helplessly at a blinking cursor on an empty screen, desperately begging for inspiration to appear. More often than not, what I ended up writing was about was mindless junk that I needed to fill a page and make a deadline. Maybe a dash of AI could have given my writer's block exactly the jump-start it needed. Yet could an AI authentically capture the awkward silence after a joke falls embarrassingly flat—something I've personally experienced far too often—or perfectly describe the unique blend of ego and insecurity that simmered quietly throughout the conference room? Could it mimic the quiet desperation of writers jockeying for the attention and the validation of their peers? The honest truth is, I don't know. And frankly, I'm not sure these writers at the conference really knew either. Perhaps they're right, and artificial intelligence will always lack that elusive "human touch." But who can say for sure? Maybe someday, an AI will pen a poem so profoundly moving that we'll all toss our beloved notebooks aside and question every choice we've ever made. STOP. FULL STOP. Everything you’ve just heard was written this morning by ChatGPT using the following prompt: Write a 450-word commentary based on my Keepin' it Real commentaries for Alabama Public Radio, written in my voice. In it, discuss a writer's conference I attended last week and how many writers felt that AI could never replace the sound of the true creative's voice. Make it humorous and poke a bit of fun at the writers who said this. And folks, I can promise you this is the first time I’ve used AI in any of my 300+ commentaries. And I pledge to you going forward, I intend to Keep It Real. /episode/index/show/keepingitrealwithcammarston/id/36096075

Keepin' It Real with Cam Marston

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