As the credits roll the sad song starts to play;                                                                    this is where the cowboy rides away.                                                                                        George Strait

Since my retirement from teaching 4 years ago, I’ve all but given up on blogging. And because I find no compelling reason to maintain this site, I will move the content offline at the end of 2022.

ToughSledding has primarily offered my take on public relations. But its secondary purpose was to provide an outlet for random observations. I don’t teach PR anymore and seldom even think about it. For my other thoughts and ramblings, there’s always Facebook. I welcome friend requests and accept most of them.

I intend to retain ownership of the ToughSledding URL, as I have a great deal invested here and, well, you just never know, do you?

I’ve copied and filed away the 477 posts and 4367 comments to preserve them for “posterity,” as it were. Maybe, like Melville, my work will take on added value once I’m under the sod. If I wrote anything you’d like to retain for your files, you may copy and paste or contact me via email or Facebook. I’ll gladly send it to you.

Copying the posts was great fun, as I did them one-by-one. I particularly enjoyed seeing the names and avatars of the hundreds of folks who contributed to the conversations here. I won’t try to thank you all individually, but I will spotlight Dino Baskovic, who first urged me to start the blog nearly 20 years ago, even after my insistence that I “had nothing to say.” Once it got rolling, ToughSledding became a compulsive habit that gave me a creative outlet while also fueling my ego. Dino passed through my undergraduate classes 25 years ago, and we’ve remained friends and correspond regularly.

I’m also grateful to Ike Pigott. In addition to hosting this blog on his server for the past decade, Ike, from the very start, has been the ultimate blogger role model — a thoughtful communicator and superb writer, but also an online friend who, through his writings, taught me about humor and civility in the online world. (Sorry, Ike, but the “humility” lessons didn’t take.)

Don’t ask me what’s next. I have no clue. The nice thing about retirement is that it requires no real “life plan.”  I’m just wingin’ it.

It’s kind of a ritual for me. On presidential Election Days, I visit a local gun retailer to pick up ammo and accessories for the hunting season. Call it my quadrennial journey into the belly of the beast. But thanks to my shoulder-length COVID hair and redneck baseball cap, I fit right in. You see, clerks and customers in gun shops are a lot more helpful if they think you’re one of ’em, so I tend to travel under cover.

In 2008, a clerk at the now-defunct Gander Mountain store warned me to stock up on ammo that very day, because “if Obama is elected,” he warned, “you won’t be able to find it.” Implication was that Obama would immediately propose regulations to limit the availability of ammunition or pass a “bullet tax” to make it unaffordable. None of those regulations were ever proposed, of course, but a massive ammo shortage did follow the ’08 election, triggered entirely by panic buying by gun nuts. Continue reading →

ToughSledding asks: Where do I go from here?

My new retired-guy profile, shot 01-10-19 while hiking along Michigan’s Boardman River. (Photo credit: Sharon Sledzik)

My last post here was about two years ago, and hardly my best work. The last essay of any substance was more of a rant about just how tough it is to do my job — to teach exclusively online. I caught some shit for that post, but I have long been misunderstood and misinterpreted. Fuck ’em if they can’t take a joke, right?

Today, I have no job. My university offered me a year’s salary to hit the road, so I bought a camper and cleaned out my desk. I am 65, officially retired and collecting a pension. Camping will have to wait until the snow clears and my CPA bride endures another tax season. Continue reading →

“Fake news” earned lots of publicity in 2016, but it’s hardly a new idea. Note here the 1992 TV Guide cover story that casts public relations as the villain — liars for hire and masters of spin. Like it or not, plenty of PR types have made a career producing fake news, and it’s bad for business.

PR historians point to legendary promoter and fake newser P. T. Barnum, who drew people to his circus in the late 1800s by claiming that George Washington’s nursemaid was part of his sideshow. At 161 years of age, this former slave helped wean our first president from his mother’s milk. Yep. Barnum loved a lie artfully told, and more than 150 years later shills of the entertainment industry still use fake news to pull bodies through the turnstiles. Continue reading →

I’ve been studying public relations 44 years now. Never have I witnessed anything like last week’s election. My candidate lost, but that’s happened before and likely will again. Each time the republic has survived, even though each time I worried it would not. Continue reading →

“Mr. Sledzik is not an aggressive person.”

So began a 1,000-word report, produced by some head-shrinking HR consulting firm hired by my employer back in the early 80s. Objective: Find out what makes the managers tick. Continue reading →

Ladies and gentlemen:

I respect and appreciate all that you do to keep our country safe. But regarding your investigation of Kent State history professor Julio Assad Pino, it’s time to file charges or announce to the world why you will not. It’s time to end this media circus, now in its 4^th day. Only the FBI can do this. Continue reading →

Are you easily offended? If so, you probably don’t belong on Facebook.

Almost nothing offends me, but even MY patience with the social network is wearing thin. Nevertheless, I’ve remained a committed Facebook user since August 2005, taking the good with the bad. Why? Because 4-5 times each week, I stumble into intelligent conversations, connecting with people I like and respect. I also love that Facebook is a time machine that connects me people I knew 10, 20, and even 40 years ago – people I still care about, including some 350 former students. Continue reading →

At least once a month a friend or colleague reminds me that I’ve got it made. I have the cushiest teaching gig around, they say. I work from home 95% of the time. I do that work at my convenience and from a table overlooking a lake. I don’t punch a clock or observe a dress code.

If you think that’s cushy, you don’t have a clue what I do every day. So give me five minutes and we’ll fix that. Continue reading →