Niki Dunagin

I keep meeting people who describe their jobs using words they'd never use in normal conversation. They attend meetings about meetings. They create PowerPoints that no one reads, which get shared in emails no one opens, which generate tasks that don't need doing.

A “deep dive” has to reveal something that the reader may never have considered before.

This is when you need to start zooming out. Take whatever main point that caught your eye and try to figure out a larger pattern or contradiction within it. I usually ask myself—

☐ Is this part of a bigger trend or shift?

☐ Have versions of this conversation been... See more

Lux Magazine — a socialist feminist magazine that explores the intersection of identity and politics, from abortion networks to 911 alternatives. It’s an amazing (and visually beautiful) place to find cultural critiques tied in material conditions.

We’re moving from an attention economy, where clicks ruled, to an influence economy, where credibility, clarity, and contextual insight are the new levers of growth.

When you sit down to write, it should be to figure something out. “What underlying issues is this perpetuating?” or “Why are people gravitating towards this in our current social or political time?” Why this object, this trend, this behavior, this interest, right now?

Studies from Stanford and MIT show that learning triggers the same pleasure centres in the brain as music and laughter. When people feel like they’re gaining insight, they stay longer and engage more.