Business and Society Articles

Gaining Context I opened my account at Vocal around two years ago when I published my first article. It was a syndicated article from my golf blog, which surprisingly has done better than all other articles since. Around three months ago, I decided to give Vocal a real chance with a renewed effort and by becoming a Vocal Plus member. They enticed me with half off a year’s membership ($50 for a year, usually it is $99 annually or $10/month). Since this renewed effort, I have published nine articles; six were written originally at Vocal (four were for Vocal Challenges), and the other 3 were syndicated from elsewhere. The plan for Vocal was to publish my creative writing there originally, which meant I had to switch from HubPages where these were published originally before. The distracting ads and lackluster RPM helped make this decision, although I’ve been writing on HP for over a decade. After three months of “working” Vocal, I’ve realized it isn’t worth paying the $10/month. I’ll expl

In a highly controversial case, an Oregon mother was sentenced to 90 days of jail and 3 years of probation for essentially making health decisions for her now 17-year-old daughter that the state didn’t like. The details are found in an Oregon Live article by Noelle Crombie on Feb. 27. The article explains that the mother, Christina Gale Dixon, 39, decided to treat her daughter with CBD and other homeopathic remedies instead of chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery (conventional treatments for cancer). This wasn’t always the case, as her daughter, Kylee Dixon, was first diagnosed with liver cancer in 2018 and underwent three rounds of chemotherapy. The article explains that the Oregon Department of Human Services got involved in late 2018 when the mother wasn’t allowing her daughter to be treated according to the allelopathic physicians. The state then took custody of her daughter, yet allowed her to live with her mother until Christina fled with her daughter to Las Vegas to avoid a sch

Reflections on the seeming complexities of love. When reflecting on the seeming complexities of love, contrasting the nemesis of love seems appropriate. Offending or being offended is not something one can do with love. It challenges our love and tempts us with unforgiveness and bitterness. When offense rears its ugly head, love gets stuffed down into forgotten compartments within ourselves. When we get offended, emotions like anger, wrath, and hatred come forth, as we seek to protect and get vengeance for ourselves and loved ones. What is Love? It takes a special person to not get offended when others do. They have learned to overcome the temptation of anger by passing over the offense. Most of us get offended somewhat easily. When this happens we realize how conditional the love we give is. Are we only loving those who love us back? That seems to be the natural reaction for most people. What is love then? Is it simply a conditional behavior we extend to those who love us back? Is it

Focusing Distractions with Complexity With all of the options writers and content creators have now, finding the right one for each system sometimes takes experimentation. Flops and failures often come with such brimming efforts of zeal, yet the glimmer of hope remains in pictures of automated simplicity. In the beginning, things were simple; then came the expansion, the maintenance, building, creating, researching, and other such effort and time into what can only be called a writing system. Organizing this complex miasma of disparate platforms, the writer (insert content creator as needed) has become a blogger, marketer, promotor, maintenance tech, and organizing master. The actual writing is pushed to the side. Finding Balance Each writer organizes their system differently according to their needs and abilities. I’ve always admired someone who focuses on one platform and doesn’t get stretched too thin. We can get distracted by constantly expanding and trying new things. What’s neede

Writing online entails considering how many impressions, views, visitors/reads, comments, shares, and reactions each article gets. These digital assets symbolize the money made from each article. How many views did that article get — that poem, story, blog post, picture, art piece? The number will determine how much money the article made. While most writers appreciate even one single read, this doesn’t pay much. On the high end, this might bring .02 cents. Usually, around half a cent, or $5 RMP. Different Writing Platforms and Efforts At Medium views don’t turn into a specific amount of money, rather they are merely an indication of possible money — reads are more important at Medium, as they correlate closely with any money made. Each read at Medium this month made me around that .02 cent mark! The reads at Medium might not be from members, so may not make us money. Still, on average, both views and reads equal a certain estimated amount for each Medium writer. At Vocal, they make it

I started writing on NewsBreak around the end of Dec. 2022 with my first published article on Dec. 25 (an unintentional date, but isn’t it fitting). It was about the renewal of the Christmas Valley Golf Course and it has accumulated 129 views up until now. The renewal of the Christmas Valley Golf Course in Eastern Oregon | NewsBreak… Although I started writing in Dec. 2022, I didn’t start making money until February because I had to apply and be approved. This entailed having 100 registered followers, writing ten articles, applying, and waiting around for a month. Here are the details of my journey if interested. Approval Time for NewsBreak Monetization Being a seasonal golf course greenskeeper, I have 4 months in the off-season to write more on NB, writing around 10–20 articles a month. During the other 8 months, writing is just a part-time effort — I usually write 1–2 articles a month. The theme for all of my articles at NewsBreak is #Oregon. Here are my stats for the last 13 months:

With all the snow already here and coming, some will wonder where to go downhill and cross-country skiing, snowboarding, or tubing in Oregon. This list rates ski resorts by their acreage, lifts, trails, and vertical rise (ft. from the base to the peak). There is great information about ski resorts in Oregon online; the data included is from Ski Central , which has current snow reports and other helpful info on its website. #1. Mt. Bachelor: base 6300 ft, vertical 3365 ft, summit 9065 ft, annual snowfall 387 inches, 71 trails, 3685 acreage, 1.5 miles is longest run, regular adult lift ticket $155/day, lifts 13. Mt. Bachelor has grown into a very popular ski resort with the rapid population boom in Central Oregon over the last 50 years. It offers beginning to advanced lifts and all the trails your freezing hands and feet can handle. Mt. Bachelor started in 1958 and had its first chair lift in 1962. The closest city is Bend 21 miles away. #2. Mt. Hood Meadows: base 4523 ft, vertical 277

Being the son of two musicians, music plays an important role in my life. I became a musician as well, although not to the level they were. Parents would play on the weekends at evening hotspots in Bend, OR in the early and mid-80s. They would play cover songs from the 70s and 80s, maybe an original here and there. They went on to have respectable careers in music until this day. Here is my mom’s music website: Maxie Kinney Music The Music Journey of a Country Gal from Oregon I started playing the guitar around 21 years old. I played the keyboard and piano when I was younger. Here is my music website in progress: Robbie Newport Music Original Christian Folk Music Storytime I remember a time when I was around 11 years old in a music shop (in the late 80s and early 90s there were mostly cassette tapes for sale) and I had the choice between Bachman Turner Overdrive (BTO) or New Kids on the Block — I chose BTO and have always been proud of that decision. I have good taste for genuine music