today is carolyn kellogg’s birthday.

shes 24.

when hilary clinton wrote her book “it takes a village” many moons ago i didnt think it had any relation to me at all. but in reality any professional success i am currently enjoying is due to the kindness of others.

carolyn and i met in austin at sxsw. i was there to speak on the Blogging While Black panel and she was in the front row. afterwards we chatted a little and then a year later there i was on the panel and there she was in the crowd and we chatted some more – except it ended with her letting me know that she was soon leaving her job running LAist.

she floated the idea that i would be fairly qualified to succeed her but when she told me how little money she was getting paid there i politely declined, saying, damn thats such a great job its too bad it doesnt pay.

two months later Carolyn was on her way to Pittsburgh to get her MFA and i was being fired from Buzznet. within days Carolyn had convinced her soon-to-be former bosses that i was the right man for the job and they should pay me. the rest, as they say, is herstory because without that lucky break i would never have had the chance to really show my stuff at LAist, and thus i would never had ended up here in my dream job less than two years later.

so when the former president Bill Clinton had me do a favor for him, he asked me what he could do for me in exchange. i said, write carolyn kellogg a personal note. he was all, “the Jacket Copy blogger at the Times?” i said yes, and she also is the main writer for the Brand X blog. and because Bill always keeps his word, bam she got a pretty sweet gift yesterday.

happy birthday Carolyn, i wouldnt be here without you!

dont be young and stupid

aka why craig ferguson is better than letterman & conan

the late late show host’s openings are always funny and sometimes brilliant

monday night he explained so much in such a short period of time

the irony of course is his audience is much younger than letterman and conan, so in a way he was preaching to the choir

the question is, does the choir know they were being laughed at, or do they think theyre being laughed with?

via Metafilter who at 10 years old is neither stupid nor young (in Internet time)