Tamarack Communication’s Most Loyal Readers

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When I launched Tamarack Communication in 2015, I was laser focused on building a consulting business that could support me for just a few years. It worked. In 2018, I seriously considered retiring and closing the business – but why stop doing what I loved? So I reduced my client base year after year, and continued to enjoy the work, just serving fewer clients. I must admit, though, that I had a corollary interest: to write for a wider audience. Constant Contact, therefore, became very important to me to invite people here to the Speakeasy. It also allows me to answer the question: Who are the Speakeasy’s most faithful visitors?

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Our Speakeasy – nine years later

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It’s been just over 9 years since I opened the Speakeasy to guests, when Tamarack Communication was a young consulting firm based in Washington State. Every few years I look back to see what articles have been most popular over the past year or so. Today I’ve decided to look all the way back and see what’s been happening here in the Speakeasy since shortly after the doors were opened and the first conversation began. You’ve been part of those conversations, so you might be interested in what I found.

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... When dreams come true – awaiting me with open arms!

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Now, don’t get too excited. We’re just talking daydreams here – nothing terribly romantic but, still, life-changing. This is about a very “appropriate” and “mature” and “sensible” daydream. You’ll find the dream itself pretty tame; that it came true and was right there, under my nose, waiting for me with open arms – that’s the cool part.

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Utilize this!

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The utilization of our English language has changed markedly just in the past decade. I hope you will utilize this little essay to reflect on your own utilization of English. You can utilize it to question your own choices, but you might also utilize it to reflect on the English you hear utilized daily by on-air personalities. Happy utilization!

Barf!

Do you see how we’ve gone off the rails? Or do you actually believe that “utilize” is the proper or formal version of “use” and we just never realized it until recent years?

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Vote NO, Wisconsin!

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Absentee ballots are hitting mailboxes for WI voters now for the April 2 Spring General Election. There are 2 "sneaky" ballot referendum questions on the ballot. They are actually parts of a constitutional amendment designed to go around Gov. Evers' veto because they can't pass as bills that cross his desk. The recommendation from the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, the ACLU and other organizations is to vote NO on both questions. Here's how the questions are worded and why to vote no.

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One of the Best Reads of a Lifetime

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Abstract: The Emperor of all Maladies: a biography of cancer

Written by Siddhartha Mukherjee – abstracted by Lynn Gerlach

Published in 2010; given to me by a friend in 2015; abstracted in 2023

Note to my reader: The author, Siddhartha Mukherjee, calls cancer “a lethal shape-shifting entity… the defining plague of our generation.” He refers to his book as “an attempt to enter the mind of this immortal illness” which is, in its many forms, the abnormal growth of cells.

The book is a 4,000-year history of cancer and the “hypnotic, obsessive quest to launch a national ‘War on Cancer’” by two key individuals: Sydney Farber, “the father of modern chemotherapy,” and Mary Lasker, a Manhattan socialite. Mukherjee notes that the book is also “a personal journey of my coming of age as an oncologist.”

For me, the reader who hopes to cull for you an abbreviated but authentic version of this 400+ page history, it is also “a personal journey” that has allowed me to find my own cancer story within the context of the 4000-year war. This is a long book and a long abstract. My hope is that, when you’ve finished reading my abstract, you’ll go directly to Dr. Mukherjee’s book.

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Oh, Quit Wringing your Hands!

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A first-grade teacher shot in the abdomen and through the hand is now struggling for her life in a hospital – shot in her classroom by one of her own students – six years old! The shooting followed an “altercation” between teacher and student; police say it was “not accidental.” Does this school district have a problem? Or does this nation have a problem?

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It's only Getting Worse!

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It was nearly seven years ago that I entered the Speakeasy and attempted to set the record straight regarding the correct pronunciation of the smallest word in our American English language: “a.” Yes, that little one-letter word, a plain, old indefinite article that can refer to just about anything at all. It’s humble; it does not try to call attention to itself – nor should it. That article has received vastly more attention than any other in the history of the Speakeasy, but the mispronunciation is only getting worse.

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A Roller Coaster and a Great, Big Stick

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[Author’s note: This actually happened about two weeks ago, but immediately thereafter our 2023 city budget was in peril, and I paused to co-author the piece called “There’s Still Hope, Green Bay.” It got lot of attention, and the budget was saved from decimation. I’ve caught my breath, and so now I share with you this unbelievable sequel to “The Garbage Can Caper.”}

I’ve ridden roller coasters only a few times in my life for the very practical reason that they scare the hell out of me. I get no thrills from terrifying climbs and death-defying falls. However, today I’ve been riding a roller coaster – from highs to lows all day – and guess what: I think it’s a pretty interesting story. So I’m going to tell it. If you don’t want to hear about the nutty ups and downs of this day, why, you just quit reading now.

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Flying Solo? Maybe Not

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Have you ever felt like the oddest person on the planet, perhaps the individual who sees a particular scenario differently than any other person on earth? That’s got to be a lonely position; maybe I’m being a bit extreme. But, in all honesty, when it comes to this notion of “gun control,” I’ve developed a very firm position – different than anything I’ve ever heard proposed by another person. Logically, then, I’ve assumed not a single other person sees it like I do.

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