Let Us Get Information: Feeling the Bey, a New Type of Politics

Beyonce’s new song Formation, complete with a fabulously divisive music video, dropped this Saturday. And it didn’t just land — it ricocheted in a thousand glorious directions. If you’ve seen in, you know: Beyonce oozes confidence and glamour, as always; her hair, outfit, and dance moves are queen-like, as always. Formation is at once typical…

Republican & Democratic Debate Takeaways, Fall 2015

Very important and serious takeaways from the first Republican and Democratic debates, to keep you informed and happy: THE REPUBLICANS Marco Rubio seems like the “nice guy” boyfriend in a romantic comedy that throws a hissy fit when rejected by the leading lady. Jeb Bush looks kind of like he’d prefer a quiet life as…

Curiousmatic’s Aha! Selfie Campaign

Curiousmatic.com is a startup focused on engineering content that optimizes understanding outcomes for readers in 2 minutes or less. Of respondents to a measurement poll, users estimated an average of 80% more understanding after reading a Curiousmatic article. Curiousmatic calls this metric 80% more “Aha!” To illustrate what these moments of understanding might look like, Curiousmatic…

If Psy is a Gentleman, He’s Doing it Wrong

We all loved Korean pop star and dance-master Psy and his music video for hit song “Gangam Style” when it surfaced on the internet last year. In all of his invisible horse bouncing and outrageous white-suit wearing glory, the man won us over fast with his contagious personality and approach to entertainment. It happened this…

Dear Self

Learning Outcome #2: Improve your ability to communicate in electronic environments. Dear Self: Congratulations on Not Sucking Completely Dear 14 year old Jen, Probably, you are checking your Myspace right now. Making sure the vibe of the music matches the moody aesthetic of the layout. Making fun of all the “scene” kids and their dramatic…

Response to Volunteering on a Farm in Italy

Susan Van Allen’s article on olive-picking in the Tuscan countryside narrates her experience volunteering and living briefly in the town of Montepulciano. The laboring process with which she finds spirituality, peace, and beauty, differs drastically from local laborers.   Van Allen’s prose flows easily as a story and still is extremely informative about Tuscan country…

Response to “Welcome to Pine Point”

This interactive piece of creative nonfiction takes viewers back into the narrator’s home town, Pine Point – or what is left of it, that is. Pine Point was a community built for the mines, a single-industry town surviving only as long as the mines were open – from the 60’s to late 80’s. The page-by-page…

About the Blogger: Jen Markert

Jennifer Markert is a writer who dabbles in multidisciplinary fields of  art-making and word-smithing, including news, culture articles and reviews, poetry and flash fiction, photography and collage-work. Feel free to peruse the many rooms of this virtual space, book a suite, stay a while – just don’t vandalize or steal anything. Jen is currently a full-time writer and content…