Tom Salzer

This is a short post about the intersection of two events that are widely separated in space and purpose, but nevertheless come together over the topic of inclusion. Or more clearly: the lack of inclusion. I don't really think that leaving people out of these events and processes was intentional. Rather, I think it was just lazy. When we don't think about how to be more inclusive, we are destined to do what we did before: just enough to get by. The first example is the most egregious. A state ...

Another beautiful day in San Diego but I'll be inside in meetings most of the time. Serving as executive director of a statewide association is a bit like being a pastor in a church. People come to you with a wide variety of requests. They need help. They want solace. They want to complain. They want to advance. The problems are personal, business, and everything in between. I never know what is coming when I pick up the phone. Above all, they want to be heard by someone who understands and ca...

I'm sitting in my hotel room on the 7th floor, looking out over the harbor in San Diego, sipping expensive coffee after eating an expensive breakfast. I find it interesting that my national association picks upscale locations where meeting attendees don't have a lot of options within walking distance. "Lock in" is real. (Coffee fuels these meetings. We've had a few where the coffee ran out and things just seem to grind to a halt. Coffee is as important as session programming.) I'm seeing lots ...

Preparing For a Week in San Diego I have a couple of friends down San Diego way. One has been a helpful partner in some amateur radio activities and the other was a few classes ahead of me in college. I plan to try to connect with them while I'm in San Diego for work. My amateur radio friend has turned out to be a leading light in a unique aspect of amateur radio, which is really such a broad field that I think of it as a hobby of hobbies. My college friend and I graduated degrees in geology ...

As I look at various choices for moving from Substack to another blog hosting platform, I am confounded by the focus on monetizing blogs. My interest is in writing and communicating, not monetizing. This is making it more difficult to find a new host. I notice that while many choices are branded and marketed differently, there is a division based on community: some platforms support the creation of a community of members/subscribers but most do not. Most are simply blogging systems that are pos...

I am having a crisis of conscience about Substack I stand here at the computer, half dressed, while the rest of the household sleeps. Why am I awake? Because I feel my young marriage to Substack is breaking. I went to Substack to blog about amateur radio. I created a simple brand, crafted a simple logo (thank you, Canva), and bought a custom domain name. While making little effort to grow my subscriber base, I've watched it slowly grow from 1 person in August 2022 to 600 people today. I am sti...