EXTRA CRITICUM

Our Brave New (Branded) World

The first time it happened, I thought nothing of it. The second time, I wondered if I might be a bit of an old curmudgeon. (Silence, you in the Peanut Gallery!) By the third and fourth time, well, I could no longer ignore what clearly is some sort of awful trend. And in my opinion blogpost-worthy.

Here's how it goes.

You get an invite to a new play or musical. The come-on is smart, sexy, innovative. You're impressed with the wit and inventiveness. Maybe the graphics are super cool, too.

So you buy a ticket to this new show which has been branded as super smart, groundbreaking and possibly kind of life-altering. And then...

How to Write a Play in 24 Days

I was late to work. My son’s school had invited parents to observe the first half hour of class, and there was no way I was missing that. I hoped to catch a train that would make me tough-time-getting-out-of-bed late rather than missed-a-whole-chunk-of-the-day late. I failed. When I got into the office, I saw that I had missed a big meeting. There was an email from my boss asking me to come to his office.

I darted in there, all apologies, but he shook them off. He told me that I had a meeting in 15 minutes with the head of HR. That stopped me cold. I’d never had a meeting with the head of HR.

“What’s the subject of this meeting?” I asked.

 A pained expression crossed his gentle face. I knew the answer before he said it.