Author Archives: Tom Abate

About Tom Abate

Tom Abate is a former small-press publisher, businessman and newspaper reporter who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. A Brooklyn native and U.S. Navy veteran, Tom is a UC Berkeley graduate who earned his master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. During his career he has worked in public relations, graphic design, typography and business journalism. As a journalist he specialized in science, technology, biotechnology, economics and the business culture of Silicon Valley. He has taught writing through UC Extension and was briefly a junior college instructor. He can work with spreadsheets, presentation software and some multimedia tools. In addition to his paid work, he wrote a blog (MiniMediaGuy.org, 2005-2010) that explored the business models, techniques and practical concerns of new and independent media. He is on the advisory board of the Society for New Communications Research (SNCR.org). The father of three children, Tom loves to garden and build things. His intellectual passions include political theory, globalism and the struggle of the individual against bureaucracy.

Learning to work the streets, part three

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Tom Abate

(Continued from: getting paid was a bonus.)   As I recall, I worked six days, maybe 10 hours a day, before there was any talk of compensation. All this occurred long ago and memory can play tricks, but whatever the details, … Continue reading →

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Learning to work the streets, part two

Posted on June 21, 2011 by Tom Abate

(Continued from: momma gave me away)   Exactly what happened after my mother presented me to these grizzled old men is obscured by the passage of time. As I recall they agreed to put me to work and decide later what … Continue reading →

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Learning to work the streets

Posted on June 15, 2011 by Tom Abate

In the summer between grade school and high school my mother took me by the hand to the fruit stand down the corner from our Brooklyn apartment building and lined me up with the first, most physical and, in retrospect, … Continue reading →

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Guns, no, political efficacy, yes

Posted on June 8, 2011 by Tom Abate

A study of attitudes toward militancy among poor Pakistanis rediscovers what should have been obvious — with disastrous consequences for misguiding U.S. foreign policy. The study said that poor Pakistanis opposed violent tactics like car bombings and that  extremist leaders … Continue reading →

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