your life is your life

don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.

be on the watch.

there are ways out.

there is light somewhere.

it may not be much light but

it beats the darkness.

be on the watch.

the gods will offer you chances.

know them.

take them.

you can’t beat death but

you can beat death in life, sometimes.

and the more often you learn to do it,

the more light there will be.

your life is your life.

know it while you have it.

you are marvelous

the gods wait to delight

in you.

27 Rouge💄 is a reader-supported publication. My independence as a writer, podcaster, and idea sharer affords me the freedom to write, speak, and produce unencumbered. If you find my work to be engaging and useful, please share 27 Rouge and consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a one-off or recurring donation. You won’t regret it. Or maybe you will :D

*A Citizen’s Guide to American Ideology

*A Citizen’s Guide to the Constitution and the Supreme Court

*The Politics of Sacred Rhetoric: Absolutist Appeals and Political Persuasion

*One Nation, Two Realities: Dueling Facts in American Democracy

We sat down on a stormy Thursday evening to chat about his writing and research, UATX, the Austin Union, and the marketing of bourbon and cigarettes—among many other things. This interview is a bit longer than usual, but is definitely worth the listen. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and I hope you do too.

Happy listening

• 0:00 - Intro

• 00:50 - What is America?

• 04:13 - The Unique Nature of the American Constitution

• 09:01 - Personal Experiences and the Role of Universities

• 13:42 - Constitutions in Other Countries

• 25:11 - The Power of Misrepresentation and Bullsh*t

• 31:02 - The Current State of Misrepresentation in America

• 35:35 - Evolutionary Psychology and the Role of Lying

• 36:56 - The Evolutionary Drive and Misrepresentation

• 37:56 - Hypergamy and Misrepresentation

• 39:13 - Bullsh*t and Truth Telling

• 40:27 - The Importance of Saying 'I Don't Know'

• 42:02 - Weaponizing Fact Perceptions

• 43:23 - Marketing and Fact Perceptions

• 44:41 - Misrepresentation in Marketing

• 46:07 - Trust and Perception of Facts

• 50:28 - Perceptions of Reality and Trust

• 52:01 - Polarization and Perceptions of Reality

• 54:57 - Manufacturing Consent and Misrepresentation

• 56:23 - The Influence of Social Media and Twitter

• 58:07 - The Role of Trust in Perception of Facts

• 01:00:02 - The Influence of Media and Marketing

• 01:03:38 - The Manufactured Nature of Political Issues

• 01:05:06 - John Adams and the Perception of Facts

• 01:06:28 - The Lack of Consensus Authority on Facts

• 01:07:05 - The Marketplace of Realities

• 01:07:55 - The Loss of Authority

• 01:10:27 - The University of Austin

• 01:12:39 - Founding New Institutions

• 01:14:26 - The Austin Union

• 01:16:37 - The Importance of Debate

• 01:18:58 - The Lack of Intellectual Discussion on Campuses

• 01:21:20 - The Need for Honest Discourse

• 01:23:11 - The Chatham House Rule

• 01:25:28 - The Problem with Confirmation Hearings

• 01:31:02 - Constitutional Amendments

• 01:37:09 - The Dishonesty of Confirmation Hearings

27 Rouge💄 is a reader-supported publication. My independence as a writer, podcaster, and idea sharer affords me the freedom to write, speak, and produce unencumbered. If you find my work to be engaging and useful, please share 27 Rouge and consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a one-off or recurring donation. You won’t regret it. Or maybe you will :D

**This podcast was originally published by Speak Up Talk Radio**

27 Rouge💄 is a reader-supported publication. My independence as a writer, podcaster, and idea sharer affords me the freedom to write, speak, and produce unencumbered. If you find my work to be engaging and useful, please share 27 Rouge and consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a one-off or recurring donation. You won’t regret it. Or maybe you will :D

Scott Newman: A Road Less Traveled

Choosing to follow his passions and walk the path less taken, Scott Newman has worn many hats since he graduated from Princeton University in 2021. Transitioning from an Associate to Contributing editor for Quillette, an Australian-based magazine with millions of monthly readers, he founded 27 Rouge, a media house that produces a podcast of the same name. Interviewing memorable figures such as Matt Taibbi, a prolific author and investigative reporter, Ed Latimore, an author and retired professional boxer and Masaaki Kudo, a film director—Newman has created a unique podcast which ranks in the top ten percent out of over three million globally.

His attendance as an executive at the 2023 Business Today International Conference was particularly significant to him, as he had previously attended as a staff member in 2018 while he was a Princeton student. In his executive seminar, he imparted professional advice to the student attendees, reminding them not to become tunnel-visioned by the idea of “shoulds” and “shouldn'ts” when considering a prospective career. Newman opened up about his journey by offering insight regarding his path and how he came to listen to his inner voice rather than external guidance.

Admittedly becoming disillusioned by the initial allure of investment banking and consulting, which he believed wouldn’t truly fulfill him, he took the opportunity to study abroad at the University of Sydney in Australia in 2020 for his junior year. The exposure to meeting a wide range of people with different values outside a perceived mold of expectations enticed him to be bold, and coupled with the disruption of his studies by COVID, he entered a period of exploration. Making friends in new places informed him of insights that became the basis for his debut book, The Night Before the Morning After, which he completed in his senior year. Graduating as an award-winning young author, he entered a career in journalism for the Australian magazine, Quillette.

In reflecting on the contrasting experience of once being a student and now an executive at the conference, Newman states, “I enjoy the mentorship aspect of being able to shed whatever light I can on the questions that the students have.” He went on to recognize that college is “a precious time in [students] lives. Some [students] are further along in college than others, but they’re faced with a lot of hard questions about who they are and what they want to do with their lives personally [and] professionally.”

In his perspective, many students at elite schools face external pressure to enter one of five fields, finance, consulting, law, technology, or medicine, without the exposure to the wider world that may help them develop their interests and define their passions. He emphasized that while enticing, prestige is a bad guide in life when determining what work will personally fulfill you and serve your soul. He encourages students to think for themselves and see their career as a journey, not a destination and wholeheartedly advocates for them to live on their terms. A caveat of additional advice he offered students interested in entering a career in the creative fields is to start by utilizing and reaching out to their university alumni network and talking to professionals who are doing or in the field the student desires to enter.

On the other end of the spectrum, his love for podcasting derives from his ability to create intellectual content that fits into the transient time of his listeners. He developed an interest in podcasting to meet a wide variety of people. He says, “There was a number of people who I wanted to talk to, and I was thinking, what are the forms or avenues by which I could interview these people? […] The podcast was a wonderful excuse to talk to the people I wanted to talk to anyway.” However, Newman agrees that producing his work has not been without its challenges. “When you run your own company and work your own hours,” he says, “you have to provide structure to your own life.” He understands that “there is no one formula or one template for it, but you have to get really good at managing your own time and also [learn] to know when to stop work. […] It’s the ultimate time management exercise when there’s little to no structure at all.”

Like any creative process, appreciating the product is very different from creating it. For Newman, the behind-the-scenes element of podcasts is “totally different” from being a passive listener. He says, “[There is] the consume-create dichotomy. When you’re creating something, there’s a lot more concern and thought that goes into it than when you’re consuming it. It’s also more fun to create. I very much enjoy creating; I enjoy creating a lot more than I enjoy consuming.” His writing background aids him in podcast production, which he believes is “just a similar kind of skill set. When you’re writing, you’re asking yourself questions; when you’re podcasting, you’re asking other people questions.”

Above all, his podcast 27 Rogue is a form of intellectual entertainment that introduces his listeners to a wide variety of interesting topics that inform the overall theme of the shows. Newman says, “I interview people who I’m interested in across the political spectrum [and] across the spectrum of jobs and academic disciplines. I try to get a broad collection of perspectives such that it takes me in, you know, all kinds of interesting directions and places.”

**This article originally appeared in the Business Today Online Journal**

27 Rouge💄 is a reader-supported publication. My independence as a writer, podcaster, and idea sharer affords me the freedom to write, speak, and produce unencumbered. If you find my work to be engaging and useful, please share 27 Rouge and consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a one-off or recurring donation. You won’t regret it. Or maybe you will :D

27 Rouge💄 is a reader-supported publication. My independence as a writer, podcaster, and idea sharer affords me the freedom to write, speak, and produce unencumbered. If you find my work to be engaging and useful, please share 27 Rouge and consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a one-off or recurring donation. You won’t regret it. Or maybe you will :D

27 Rouge💄 is a reader-supported publication. My independence as a writer, podcaster, and idea sharer affords me the freedom to write, speak, and produce unencumbered. If you find my work to be engaging and useful, please share 27 Rouge and consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a one-off or recurring donation. You won’t regret it. Or maybe you will :D

My conversation with Noah was filled with many moments where we reflected on the history of art in funding crime & terrorism, forgery in art & wine, the exclusive world of selling art, and what constitutes an art criminal. Here are some of my favorite takeaways from our conversation:

27 Rouge💄 is a reader-supported publication. My independence as a writer, podcaster, and idea sharer affords me the freedom to write, speak, and produce unencumbered. If you find my work to be engaging and useful, please share 27 Rouge and consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a one-off or recurring donation. You won’t regret it. Or maybe you will :D

My conversation with Andy was filled with many moments where we reflected on life, poker, journalism, and what it takes to be a successful author. Here are some of my favorite takeaways from our conversation:

Is Gambling Illegal?

Picks and Shovels Analogy in Gold Rush Applied to Poker

George Plimpton’s Impact on Andy Bellin

27 Rouge💄 is a reader-supported publication. My independence as a writer, podcaster, and idea sharer affords me the freedom to write, speak, and produce unencumbered. If you find my work to be engaging and useful, please share 27 Rouge and consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a one-off or recurring donation. You won’t regret it. Or maybe you will :D

This conversation is filled with many moments where we reflected on the topics of self-development, meaning, stoicism, and what it takes to be a true fighter in this day and age. Here are some of my favorite moments and takeaways from our conversation:

Instant gratification era - a millennial’s take

“The ‘hard’ of something is the feature, not a bug”

An armed society is not a polite society

27 Rouge💄 is a reader-supported publication. My independence as a writer, podcaster, and idea sharer affords me the freedom to write, speak, and produce unencumbered. If you find my work to be engaging and useful, please share 27 Rouge and consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a one-off or recurring donation. You won’t regret it. Or maybe you will :D

Join Ben and me as we explore the moment in his career as a musician that sparked his passion for studying political philosophy. In this conversation, we delve into the nuances of political perspectives in the US, reflect on the origins of democracy, and consider why Los Angeles became the epicenter of Hollywood. We later discuss the interplay between language and music, how Beethoven’s greatest works came to be, and whether listening to music on AirPods is a grave sin.

27 Rouge💄 is a reader-supported publication. My independence as a writer, podcaster, and idea sharer affords me the freedom to write, speak, and produce unencumbered. If you find my work to be engaging and useful, please share 27 Rouge and consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a one-off or recurring donation. You won’t regret it. Or maybe you will :D

https://www.speakuptalkradio.com/podcast-award-winners/

Awards to:

For:

Thank you all for continuously tuning into my show, our growth is only starting! Looking forward to all the big projects coming your way this year, stay tuned.

27 Rouge💄 is a reader-supported publication. My independence as a writer, podcaster, and idea sharer affords me the freedom to write, speak, and produce unencumbered. If you find my work to be engaging and useful, please share 27 Rouge and consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a one-off or recurring donation. You won’t regret it. Or maybe you will :D

Some of the most interesting clips from my discussion with Zuby:

27 Rouge💄 is a reader-supported publication. My independence as a writer, podcaster, and idea sharer affords me the freedom to write, speak, and produce unencumbered. If you find my work to be engaging and useful, please share 27 Rouge and consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a one-off or recurring donation. You won’t regret it. Or maybe you will :D

“I've started investing in stocks: beef, vegetable, chicken. One day I hope to be a bouillionaire.

 If you boil a funny bone, it becomes a laughing stock. Now that's humerus.

I accidentally rubbed ketchup in my eyes. Now I have Heinzsight.

Did you know muffins spelled backwards is what you do when you take them out of the oven?

Scientifically, a raven has 17 primary wing feathers; the big ones at the end of the wing are called pinion feathers. A crow has only 16. Therefore, the difference between a raven and a crow is only a matter of a pinion.

I was walking in the jungle and saw a lizard on his hind legs telling jokes. I turned to a local tribal leader and said, "That lizard is really funny!" The leader replied. "That's not just any old lizard ... he's a stand-up chameleon."

I tried to come up with a carpentry pun that woodwork. I thought I nailed it, but nobody saw it.

Singing in the shower is fine until you get soap in your mouth. Then it's a soap opera.

The Black-Eyed Peas can sing us a song, but the chick peas can only hummus one.

Then there was the time Fruit of the Loom took Hanes to court .......  it was a brief case.

How much does a chimney cost?  Nothing, it's on the house.

My friend said she wouldn't eat a cow's tongue because it came out of a cow's mouth. So, I gave her an egg.

Once upon a time there was a King who was only 12 inches tall. He was a terrible King, but he made a great ruler.

Ran out of toilet paper and now using lettuce leaves. Today was just the tip of the iceberg and tomorrow romaines to be seen.

My friend Jack says he can communicate with vegetables. That's right ....... Jack and the beans talk.

I want to tell you about a girl who only eats plants. You probably have not heard of herbivore.

I was struggling to understand how lightning works and then it struck me.

Six cows were smoking joints and playing poker. You guessed it ......... the steaks were pretty high.

I went to the paint store to get thinner. It didn't work.

I once dated a girl who broke up with me because I only have 8 toes. Yes, she was lack-toes intolerant.

I've started telling everyone about the benefits of eating dried grapes. It's all about raisin awareness.”

-Source unkown, but it wasn’t I who wrote these delectable puns

27 Rouge💄 is a reader-supported publication. My independence as a writer, podcaster, and idea sharer affords me the freedom to write, speak, and produce unencumbered. If you find my work to be engaging and useful, please share 27 Rouge and consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a one-off or recurring donation. You won’t regret it. Or maybe you will :D

With Gratitude to All,

Scott

27 Rouge💄 is a reader-supported publication. My independence as a writer, podcaster, and idea sharer affords me the freedom to write, speak, and produce unencumbered. If you find my work to be engaging and useful, please share 27 Rouge and consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a one-off or recurring donation. You won’t regret it. Or maybe you will :D

Today’s throwback conversation is dedicated to Matt Taibbi, one of the most engaging discussions we’ve had on the channel. Matt’s insight into the current media landscape and political discourse is both enlightening and provocative. We delve into topics like the liberal use of charged terms (0:00 - 2:35) and the heated debate surrounding the former Rittenhouse case (2:36 - 3:10).

A standout part of the conversation was Matt's perspective on the specific monetization strategies various news media companies explore, particularly focusing on the New York Times (15:01 - 15:58). We also explored the origins and implications of polarized politics, a theme central to Matt's book, “Hate Inc.” (16:42 - 19:10).

 Delving deeper, we discussed the complexities of American identity and the societal shifts we're currently experiencing (52:22 - 54:24), a conversation that resonates strongly in today's sociopolitical climate. This segment particularly highlights the multifaceted nature of our times, reflecting on how our identities and societal norms are evolving in the face of ongoing political and cultural changes.

I encourage you to check out the full episode on YouTube, subscribe to the channel, and feel free to leave a comment there on which parts of the conversation resonated with you the most!

27 Rouge💄 is a reader-supported publication. My independence as a writer, podcaster, and idea sharer affords me the freedom to write, speak, and produce unencumbered. If you find my work to be engaging and useful, please share 27 Rouge and consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a one-off or recurring donation. You won’t regret it. Or maybe you will :D

Below the Humber River roared, a quiet orchestra enveloping nearly 1800 feet of elevation. Above, a small mountain in Canada’s easternmost province played host to 95 journalists from 23 countries, of which I was one.

Each year the venue changes. We’ve darkened the hallowed hills of Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, Slovenia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Czechia, and the US repeatedly. Meanwhile, Andorra, Argentina, Finland, Britain, Japan, Morocco, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Sweden, and Turkey have also hosted us. This year we were at Marble Mountain in Newfoundland, a slice of paradise on a sparsely populated island.

When I first heard about the Ski Club of International Journalists (SCIJ), it sounded outlandish and bizarre. Journalists from around the world who get together and ski every year? Was this real? As I came to discover, it certainly was. In 1955, a Frenchman by the name of Gilles de la Rocque found himself at the Pink Palace in Paris for a press conference with foreign ministers from the Soviet Union, France, Britain, and the U.S. As geopolitical tensions ran high, la Rocque expected some heated exchange, or at a minimum some snide remarks from those on either side of the curtain. Instead, he found radio silence, no communication at all. The soviets spoke among themselves while the westerners did the same. No intercultural exchange. No free-flow ideas. No effort at humanizing the other. It was then that he cooked up a silly idea: what if they all went skiing together?

In 1955, after much diligent work that silly idea became a reality when Gilles de la Rocque and Marcel Pasche pulled together journalists from Yugoslavia, Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and West Germany. 68 years later, SCIJ lives on, boasting 31 member nations and over 1000 members. At my inaugural conference in March, I was one of the youngest and freshest participants. Almost everybody else had been there before, many for decades. They kept coming back. One gentleman—Michel—had been part of SCIJ for more than 50 years.

On day one, I marched alongside 22 others, each holding the flag of our motherland. The following evening, during “nations night,” the teams presented nourishment and libations from their home countries to the other delegations. Mixing Serbian Rakia with Italian wine, Canadian vodka, and Slovenian honey liqueur did inebriate me ever so slightly, but I’ll remember that glorious first nation’s night for years to come.

After the cross country race at Blow Me Down Trails, the Dutch team served Erwtensoep, their signature dish and a SCIJ tradition, to over 100 people. Meanwhile, a few days prior, the finish line of the Giant Slalom race was furnished by hot spiced wine and coffee. This, I thought to myself, was soft diplomacy.

I left Newfoundland with a Serbian Jersey, a Croatian ski mask, a Slovenian hat, and an Italian sweater. For one surreal, suspended week on an island somewhere in North America, borders and age gaps and ideological differences faded into a whipped cream wonderland of camaraderie, mutual understanding, and vibrant human connection, tied together by a shared love of the mountains and of skiing.  

If you’re a journalist who would like to join SCIJ, reach out to your national team’s captain. If you’re based in the US, reach out to me (snewman477@gmail.com). The registration deadline for our Khazakstan conference in March is 26 January. Don’t miss the boat :)

27 Rouge💄 is a reader-supported publication. My independence as a writer, podcaster, and idea sharer affords me the freedom to write, speak, and produce unencumbered. If you find my work to be engaging and useful, please share 27 Rouge and consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a one-off or recurring donation. You won’t regret it. Or maybe you will :D

Below is a small excerpt that I have returned to time and time again over the years.

“The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer. There are many men who feel a kind of twisted pride in cynicism; there are many who confine themselves to criticism of the way others do what they themselves dare not even attempt. There is no more unhealthy being, no man less worthy of respect, than he who either really holds, or feigns to hold, an attitude of sneering disbelief toward all that is great and lofty, whether in achievement or in that noble effort which, even if it fails, comes second to achievement. A cynical habit of thought and speech, a readiness to criticize work which the critic himself never tries to perform, an intellectual aloofness which will not accept contact with life’s realities—all these are marks, not as the possessor would fain to think, of superiority, but of weakness. They mark the men unfit to bear their part painfully in the stern strife of living, who seek, in the affectation of contempt for the achievement of others, to hide from others and from themselves their own weakness. The role is easy; there is none easier, save only the role of the man who sneers alike at both criticism and performance.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

YouTube version with music and illustrations

Full text:

https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Learn-About-TR/TR-Encyclopedia/Culture-and-Society/Man-in-the-Arena.aspx

Hard to believe that December is finally here. Happy Holidays to all.

From New York with love

-Scott

27 Rouge💄 is a reader-supported publication. My independence as a writer, podcaster, and idea sharer affords me the freedom to write, speak, and produce unencumbered. If you find my work to be engaging and useful, please share 27 Rouge and consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a one-off or recurring donation. You won’t regret it. Or maybe you will :D

Mamali Shafahi, a distinguished artist known for his innovative integration of modern technology and traditional artistic mediums, brings a rich tapestry of insights to this discussion. Born in Iran and shaped by a global perspective, his work is a reflection of diverse cultural experiences, skillfully exploring the complexities of identity, self-reinvention, and the human condition. In the interview, Shafahi delves into various facets of contemporary art and technology, from the early days of Virtual Reality (VR) to the impacts of social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok on creativity and society. His commentary on the role of art in today's digital age, including the intricacies of NFT art and the therapeutic aspects of social media, is deeply informed by his background in digital art and his multicultural experiences. Shafahi's profound understanding of both Eastern and Western cultures is evident as he navigates through topics like the value of human life, the impact of cultural upbringing, and the importance of ambiguity in art. His perspectives are not only reflective of his artistic journey but also highlight the broader implications of living in a digitally interconnected world.

Check out the video version and breakdown of the podcast here:

27 Rouge💄 is a reader-supported publication. My independence as a writer, podcaster, and idea sharer affords me the freedom to write, speak, and produce unencumbered. If you find my work to be engaging and useful, please share 27 Rouge and consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a one-off or recurring donation. You won’t regret it. Or maybe you will :D

27 Rouge💄 is a reader-supported publication. My independence as a writer, podcaster, and idea sharer affords me the freedom to write, speak, and produce unencumbered. If you find my work to be engaging and useful, please share 27 Rouge and consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a one-off or recurring donation. You won’t regret it. Or maybe you will :D