Why millennials matter

Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Gazette weekly column, “On Topic,” from 05-24-15
I considered starting out like this:
How many millennials does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Who knows — none of them stick around long enough to finish the job … .
But lately, after spending most of my working day with those frequently maligned millennials, I’ve concluded it’s probably past time for managers to rethink the validity of that view.

Opinion: ‘Gatsby? What Gatsby?’

Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Gazette weekly column, “On Topic,” from 05-26-13
As we were coming out of a showing of the Baz Luhrmann-directed movie “The Great Gatsby” — the latest in a line of movie versions of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel — we passed a clutch of older-than-middle-aged women, and one of them sighed to her friend, “I was hoping for a happy ending.”
Really? Did you not read the book in high school? You didn’t see that tragic conclusion coming a mile off?
But it occurred to me that maybe she was disappointed by this latest cinematic “Gatsby” — just as a number of movie critics, too, have been, well, critical — because they’re missing the point.

Opinion: Stewart, Steinem, Abramson, et al.

Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Gazette weekly column, “On Topic,” from 05-05-13
The photo is a surprise. The black-and-white print itself, part of a collection of photos my mother has begun sorting, is still in pristine condition despite its age, and it shows my maternal grandmother standing up behind the wheel of an industrial-strength tractor.
She’s smiling broadly, for all the world like Gene Autry astride his beloved horse, Champion, and waving to the camera in that World War II we-women-can-do-it-all pose so identified with the period when this shot likely was taken.

Opinion: When telling the truth conflicts with the bottom line

Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Gazette weekly column, “On Topic,” from 07-22-12
The past few weeks have seen a whirlwind of complex shenanigans in the financial world, enough to make even Ben Bernanke’s head swim — interest-rate manipulation, hidden losses in derivatives trades, discriminatory lending practices, hundreds of millions of dollars in “misappropriated” funds and even a nationally reported attempted suicide right here in Iowa.
All of these goings-on will total in the billions of dollars.

Opinion: Say ahhh …

Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Gazette weekly column, “On Topic,” from 01-15-12
We keep hearing there is a shortage of doctors. I suspect that means not so much a shortage of all doctors, and not everywhere — in larger metro areas names of radiologists and anesthesiologists seem to crowd the directory boards of office complexes.
But in less-populated regions, fewer doctors of all kinds are practicing.

Opinion: When waters run high

Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Gazette weekly column, “On Topic,” from 01-01-12
To a newcomer, it appears Cedar Rapids has gone from debating a once-popular television program to arguing about a popular brand of toothpaste.
Both discussions, as it turns out, are about levees.