Westport Magazine Westport Magazine
  • Calendar
  • Party Photos
  • Latest Articles
  • Back Issues
  • Subscriptions
  • Videos
Westport Magazine Westport Magazine
  • Calendar
  • Party Photos
  • Latest Articles
  • Back Issues
  • Subscriptions
  • Videos
Jan 03

Editor Note: Connection

  • January 3, 2011
  • Moffly Media
  • Town Talk

There’s only one reason to do a story on Jared Cohen: He’s fascinating.

I’m a paper devotee. If you e-mail me a message, I’m going to print it out. If you want me to edit something, put a pencil in my hand. At the moment, like most moments, I am surrounded by paper—stacked, posted, filed, splayed.

I am of Generation X—as in an X-shaped support beam under the high-speed bridge between the baby boomers, who transformed and dominated American culture (think The Beatles, political street protests, and mocha lattes), and Generation Y, the group born of the boomers, who, like nouveau revolutionaries, are racing headlong across a digital global terrain of unprecedented citizen empowerment held in their palms. 

So it was a dismal evening when I heard Jared Cohen lecture at Fairfield University. Not only did he engage a huge audience at the raw age of twenty-eight, he also quite freely said that if the older generation (e.g., me) can’t keep up with all the wonders of Facebook, Twitter, Google, and all manner of cellphones, then just get out of the way.

Harsh.
…yet true.

I recall shoving my simpleton flip-phone deeper in my coat pocket.

He spoke that night about traveling around the world and asking questions of everyone he could. And I came to realize that Jared Cohen loves to bust assumptions. About his generation. About cultures. About politics. Even about social media. His expertise brings him face to face with leaders about policy change. And he won’t be boxed in anymore than the Web will. Try to stick a label on him, he’ll calmly remove it, place it on the floor, walk you a safe distance away, and blow it up. Then he’ll dig through the rubble of assumptions to find a nugget of something real…and practical. He even turned think tank on its head by becoming director of Google Ideas, a think/do tank.

Yet he seems surprisingly old-fashioned about person-to-person meetings and networking over a dinner table. Cohen collects antiques and vintage finds from foreign countries, political campaigns, pop culture. He showed me his funky-cool margarita maker, a gift from his buddy Jimmy Buffett (yes, I was envious).

A leader of the digital generation, he encourages us toward a frontier of policy-changing possibilities, while harboring an authentic respect for tradition, artifacts, the printed word, and family. And still, with his cell phone always within reach, he alerts us to a new world paradigm; Cohen is a master of how to navigate it.

By the way, I now own a smartphone, thanks to Jared Cohen’s encouraging shove forward.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest
  • Google+
  • LinkedIn
  • E-Mail

Events + Parties

  • Calendar of Events
  • Submit Events
  • Sponsored Events
  • Party Photos
  • Big Picture

MOFFLY MEDIA

 
205 Main Street Westport, CT 06880 Tel. 203-222-0600 CONTACT US

Company Info

  • About Us
  • Subscriptions
  • Awards
  • Charities
  • Advertise
  • Big Picture
  • Custom Publishing
  • athome Books

Publications

  • athome Magazine
  • Fairfield Living Magazine
  • Greenwich Magazine
  • New Canaan-Darien Magazine
  • Stamford Magazine
  • Westport Magazine

Signature Events

  • Greenwich Restaurant Week
  • Women in the Know
  • Women in Business
  • Stamford’s Best Bartender Contest
  • Best of the Gold Coast
  • Best of Greenwich
  • athome’s A-List Awards
  • Darien’s Best Bartender Contest
  • Light a Fire Awards

Calendar

  • Calendar of Events
  • Submit your event
  • Sponsored Events

Sections

  • Fashion + Jewelry
  • Food + Drink
  • Health + Wellness
  • Home + Real Estate
  • Party Photos
  • Travel
  • Weddings

Connect

  • Facebook
  • Instagram

Directories

  • Restaurants
  • Schools
  • Top Doctors
  • Top Dentists
  • Outstanding Lawyers
  • Build Renovate
  • Weddings

More…

  • Newsletters
  • Wedding Submission Form
  • Newsstands
  • Reprint Request
© 2018 Moffly Media. All rights reserved.