You Might Make A Difference —
It’s pretty common to hear folks say “What difference can I make? I mean, really?”, when discussing politics or issues that seem much bigger than ourselves.
I’ve been guilty myself.
However, a few weeks ago, I wrote an article for work highlighting a proposed change to the taxation law that would have absolutely affected my clients in the music business. It was to be part of the GOP Tax Plan that was recently passed.
The proposed change would have changed income for the sale of a song writer’s catalog to be viewed by the IRS as ordinary income (~40%) instead of capital gains (~20%).
I thought that was a really big deal, so I wrote about it.
http://exploration.io/gop-tax-bill-kills-capital-gain-for-composers-and-music-publishers/
The next thing I know, my article was forwarded and referenced by folks that were able to influence the proposed bill.
Within 48 hours of publishing my article, the provision had been stricken from the bill that was ultimately passed and I was invited to the Nashville Songwriter’s Association International to record an official interview with their Executive Director, Bart Herbison, explaining what went down.
I don’t believe my article was the only influence that contributed to the change of the bill, but I do feel confident it might have played a role.
I share the story to encourage folks to consider that their voice as an individual does indeed have an impact.
What brain twister made me scratch my head –
Mathematically Correct Breakfast
How to Slice a Bagel into Two Linked Halves
http://www.georgehart.com/bagel/bagel.html
What I’m Reading –
I love boats of all stripes. Anything that floats (barely), to me, is a thing of magic. I also love Hemmingway for a multitude of reasons. So this book has been a treat to open again.
Hemmingway’s Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost.
https://www.amazon.com/Hemingways-Boat-Everything-Loved-Life/dp/1400075351
From the description on Amazon:
A brilliantly conceived and illuminating reconsideration of a key period in the life of Ernest Hemingway that will forever change the way he is perceived and understood.
Focusing on the years 1934 to 1961—from Hemingway’s pinnacle as the reigning monarch of American letters until his suicide—Paul Hendrickson traces the writer’s exultations and despair around the one constant in his life during this time: his beloved boat, Pilar.
Drawing on previously unpublished material, including interviews with Hemingway’s sons, Hendrickson shows that for all the writer’s boorishness, depression and alcoholism, and despite his choleric anger, he was capable of remarkable generosity—to struggling writers, to lost souls, to the dying son of a friend. Hemingway’s Boat is both stunningly original and deeply gripping, an invaluable contribution to our understanding of this great American writer, published fifty years after his death.
What’s on the radio –
Toots and the Maytals – 54-46 Was My Number
Quote I’m Pondering –
“Bestow pardon for many things; seek pardon for none.” ~ Seneca