A Eureka! Moment: Why I Only Have Good Ideas When Tiny Scraps of Paper Are Around.
The revelation came to me in the moments before sleep, and I went searching for something to scribble it down on. All I could find was a small envelope on my kitchen table.
But what else could I be expected to write on in such a moment?
What hit me last night, what pulled me out of bed and sent me searching for any scrap of paper, was a simple truth: I only have good ideas when there's barely anything around to write on.
I have owned dry erase boards that I've never used, oversized notepads that stayed blank and binders that held nothing.
But I've captured eureka! moments on cocktail napkins, scribbled genius ideas in the margins of newspaper columns and on business cards. I've rarely had success carrying around a notebook, with one exception: in the summer of 2008, when I had this bound, 3'' x 2'' pad that I covered every inch of with tiny thought bursts during my travels in China.
The more I consider it, the more the words jotted down last night on the back side of that envelope ring true: "The profundity of an idea varies in inverse proportion to the size of the paper it's written on."
Or, in words: the smaller (and stranger) the thing I'm writing on, the greater the eureka being written. (1)
I've always kept these big legal pads around for the moments in which I'd need to fully flesh out an idea. But maybe it's that a confined space -- forced brevity! -- is the key to innovation.
Shouldn't the best ideas should be jotted down in their most basic form first before being carefully considered and expanded upon? Isn't it only fair to let a spark turn into a slow burn, to let brief moments of genius turn into something of scale?
This is the kind of revelation that could force a change in lifestyle. I've started thinking about getting rid of all the big legal pads around my apartment. With the money saved, I could head to a local paper store instead and buy a stack of customized cocktail napkins. ("From the Desk of Dan Oshinsky," they'll read.)
That's just one idea; I still haven't decided what the next step is. But I'm not too worried. I picked up a tiny green receipt from a parking garage the other day. It couldn't be more than an inch tall and two inches wide. I guess I'll just have to keep it around and wait for inspiration to strike.
- This may explain why I've jotted down great ideas on the inside of a paper towel roll but never on an actual, oversized paper towel. ↩
The Cover Letter I’ve Always Wanted to Write
Dear Prospective Employer,
I am not particularly good at following directions.
Or perhaps I should say: it’s not that I’m bad at following directions. It’s that I tend to follow them too seriously.
I mention this because my professors seem to think that these introductory letters shouldn’t be about what I’ve done; they should be about who I am. Right about here, I’m supposed to say that if you’d like to know more about my experiences – about the time I spent as the Rocky Mountain News’ multimedia man-about-town in Beijing for the Olympics; or the summer I produced radio stories for CBS News; or the months covering pro baseball for the Washington Examiner – well, you should just turn to my résumé.
This, instead, is what my professors would like me to tell you:
I am a 6’5’’ Jewish kid from Bethesda, Md. I have the wingspan of someone who is 6’9’’. To answer your questions in advance: I do not play basketball, and I do not know what the weather is like up here.
After a lifetime of air guitaring, I started playing for real three years ago, though
I haven’t given up on the occasional air soloing. I put Old Bay and garlic into nearly everything I cook. Two years ago, I spent the better part of a month training for a pizza eating competition that was later canceled when the restaurant ran out of oven space to cook the needed amount of pizzas. One year, I ordered the ESPN Full Court package, watched hundreds of college basketball games, developed an encyclopedic knowledge of every NCAA Tournament team, and still finished in the bottom third in my office pool.
I’m not particularly fashion-conscious, though I am the proud owner of a yellow, pinstriped jacket that I’ve worn to every University of Missouri football game since my sophomore year. I’ve never used the afro pick that came with the jacket.
I come from a large, lovable family of well-to-do Washingtonians who, for lack of a better term, are crazy. My grandparents used to paint their lawn green in the winter. We used to have a nanny who walked her pet guinea pig outside on a leash. My father has been known to bring back stacks of Waffle House waffles as his “personal item” on flights.
Which brings me to the jewel of my family: my mother.
My mother once wrote an essay explaining that her favorite Jewish moment involved the time Noah led the Jews out of Egypt. Once, upon my return from a semester abroad in Spain, she waited for me at the airport with a sign for me that read, “Hola, Dan, mí puta grande,” mistakenly believing that the words were a standard Spanish greeting. Recently, my mother fulfilled her lifelong dream of riding around on a fire truck dressed as Mrs. Claus. She is also a lover of animals, which is why this elephant currently resides on the front steps of my house.
I’ll cut this letter short now; I wouldn’t want to spoil any stories for future psychiatric visits. I do hope this letter gives you a more personal look into who I really am. And if for whatever reason any of this makes me more desirable as a candidate for this job, then I must say: journalism is clearly in worse shape than I'd ever imagined.
Sincerely yours,
Dan
Portfolio
I'm a convergence journalist, which means I've got a slightly more complicated portfolio than most. Here's a sampling of clips, and to simplify things, I've noted where each clip was published and what technology was used to produce it. For a fuller directory of clips, please scroll down the sidebar here at danoshinsky.com.
Click on an image (or just scroll down) to find the type of story you're looking for.
Audio Slideshows
• “Beware of Landslide: Curious Signs Around Beijing” (for The Rocky Mountain News, produced with Final Cut Pro)
• “Tiananmen Square During Open Ceremonies” (for The Rocky Mountain News, produced with Final Cut Pro)• Beauty and the Kick Boxer (for The Columbia Missourian, produced with Soundslides)
Blog Posts
• “The Olympic Muzzle” (for The Rocky Mountain News)
• “Sign Here” (for The Rocky Mountain News)
• "The Greatest Free Ad Ever" (for The Rocky Mountain News)
• “The Cover Letter I've Always Wanted To Write” (for danoshinsky.com)
• “How I Dealt With Those Pesky Thanksgiving Questions” (for danoshinsky.com)
Broadcast Stories
• “Conspiracy Surrounds Plane Crash Death of Mexican Interior Secretary” (written, edited and produced for Newsy.com using Final Cut Pro)
• “Zimbabwe in Crisis” (written, edited and produced for Newsy.com using Final Cut Pro)
Flash
• “State Gas Tax Breakdown” map (for KOMU-TV)
• “The Ballad of Johnny Wholestaff” (a project with audio, photos, HTML, and text, completed with Audacity, Photoshop, and Flash for class)
HTML/Multimedia
• “Getting High: Aviation in Columbia” (a project with audio, video, HTML, and text, completed for class)
• "08-08-08: Live in Tiananmen Square" (for danoshinsky.com, produced with VuVox)
Photography
Click to view.
• Flag waving.
• Go!
• Kicks.
• Mixed messages.
• The brothers.
• Other images from Columbia, Mo.
Print Stories
• “Somehow Finding Their Way to Hash It Out” (for The Rocky Mountain News)
• "Hoping for an Olympic-sized miracle" (for The Rocky Mountain News)
• “Livo Had the Power, Got the Money” (for The Washington Examiner)
• “Nats Bats Still Impatient” (for The Washington Examiner)
• “5,000 Protest Chinese Imprisonment of Former Cambridge Resident” (for The Boston Globe)
Me. (Or is it I?)
Dan Oshinsky works at a digital media producer at KENS-5 TV in San Antonio.
All rational thoughts, ramblings or nonsense posted here is Dan's own.
Dan is a recent graduate of the University of Missouri, where he majored in convergence journalism. He has worked as a freelance journalist at the Beijing Olympics for The Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colo. He has been published in The Boston Globe and The Washington Examiner, and also interned at CBS News, The Nantucket Independent and The Gazette of Business and Politics (in Montgomery County, Md.).
Dan's full resume is also available in one paragraph.
Like many pro athletes, Dan has a wingspan greater than his height. He continues to put that 81-inch wingspan to good use by avoiding a career in athletics. He also enjoys proclaiming his love for Maryland Terrapins basketball and training for the Pointersaurus challenge in Clayton, Mo. Dan does not particularly enjoy the use of the third person, but since it worked for Bo Jackson, it's at least worth a try.
A more comprehensive list of things about Dan that might require a full team of Austrian psychologists to unpack can be found here.
Praise for the University of Missouri's new ticketing system at athletic events can be directed toward Dan. Please direct all complaints/hate mail elsewhere.
He can be reached at dan.oshinsky [at] gmail.com.
From the Archives
Via @danoshinsky
- Today's Mizzou first round loss was total karmic revenge for last year's upset-a-palooza Big 12 Tourney first round. Oy.
- I cannot believe that @allisonbennett saw a game at MSG before I did. My level of basketball-related jealously is uncontrollable.
- San Antonians are outraged about @JohnTEdge's NYT article suggesting that Austin is the home of breakfast tacos http://nyti.ms/9L8yKY
- WGN Radio's *alleged* new list of words you cannot say on air http://bit.ly/bolFSR
- The first of what should be many spectacular World Cup soccer ads http://bit.ly/bIlQyn
Recently on danoshinsky.com
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