> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.joshuajohnson.me/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # FROM MY HEART: Shall I dice your steak, ma'am? - URL: https://www.joshuajohnson.me/from-my-heart-shall-i-dice-your-steak/ - Published: 2024-05-02T02:44:08.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-15T23:05:44.000Z - Description: How do you make quality popular without mangling it? - Author: Joshua Johnson - Tags: Newsletter, Articles, #Migrated-1791927903932, #Import 2026-10-13 16:50 *EN ROUTE FROM MIAMI TO LAS VEGAS —* I’m flying home after visiting my alma mater, the University of Miami School of Communication. The school [honored me](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7191541810509369345/?ref=joshuajohnson.me) during its annual Student Media Awards as its 2024 Communicator of the Year. I also gave the Robert Corley Groves [Lecture](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7191088210465206274/?ref=joshuajohnson.me) on the topic, “What Journalists Can Do That A.I. Cannot”. I got to know students who are sharp, engaging, sunny and driven. They want to make something of themselves, but they worry about the challenges they’ll face. I spent hours answering questions, sharing my views on the industry and giving all the advice they wanted. Now I have to take my own advice. My acceptance speech focused on using adversity to your advantage. For example, Steven Spielberg made *Jaws* despite the mechanical shark breaking down constantly. Ultimately he used first-person shots to show attacks from the shark’s perspective: an unexpected workaround that made the movie far scarier. I also relayed an anecdote from actor Michael Caine about his early theater days. (I interviewed Caine on NPR in 2018\. [You can listen to it here.](https://the1a.org/segments/2018-11-05-michael-caine/?ref=joshuajohnson.me)) While rehearsing a play, another actor angrily threw a chair across the stage. Caine couldn’t enter the scene, because the chair lodged in the door. He says he stopped the rehearsal to tell the director about the problem. “Use the difficulty!” the director replied. Caine was confused. How do you enter the scene when your door won’t open? The same way you make a movie about a killer shark when you rarely see the shark killing. “If it’s a comedy,” the director said, “fall over it! If it’s a drama, pick it up and smash it! Use the difficulty!” This is common theater advice: a version of the improv rule “Yes, And”. When something unexpected conflicts with your expectations of a scene, accept it and work within it. Caine says *use the difficulty* became valuable guidance for living. “If you can use it a quarter of one percent to your advantage,” Caine advised, “you’re ahead. You didn’t let it get you down.” My industry is slowly learning this lesson. Too many networks, newspapers and other companies are fighting the difficulty, clinging to the status quo. Others are simply cutting costs in hopes of surviving, rather than integrating the difficulties into their businesses as a catalyst for growth. Either you use the difficulty, or it uses you. The temptation of easy answers is enormous. Yesterday one of my old professors effusively praised my recent YouTube video about university campus protests and the First Amendment. It’s humbling, and I’m grateful. I’m also keenly aware that so far, *The Night Light* is nowhere near lucrative enough to survive without serious growth. It’s early days, of course, but my savings will only take me so far. I’ve taken the last few weeks off from live streaming and frequent posting to think about the future of this work… that’s why you haven’t heard much from me. That, and discussing it is often painful. I see how much “work” on social media draws an enormous audience: one that I cannot apparently penetrate yet. If others can make a killing with mindless memes, funny clips, specious advice or gym motivation, I should be able to get a few crumbs too, right? Sadly, I may have missed that boat. Hosting on NPR and anchoring for NBC News brought lots of editorial restrictions, chilling my openness on social media just as these apps were surging. COVID was a boon for many so-called “content creators”, gaining followers who were stuck at home with little to do but scroll. For me, it was a time to simply anchor the news in hopes of saving lives. I started work at 30 Rock one month before the city, and the world, shut down. Building a side hustle on Instagram, even discreetly, could’ve gotten me fired. Maybe I should’ve risked it. “Use the difficulty!” Today’s social media algorithms have greatly changed since the pandemic. News & politics are pushed further down in favor of entertainment to keep you endlessly swiping and clicking. This February Meta (parent company of [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/joshualistening/), [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/joshualistening/?ref=joshuajohnson.me) and [Threads](https://www.threads.net/@joshualistening?ref=joshuajohnson.me)) announced it would [stop](https://about.instagram.com/blog/announcements/continuing-our-approach-to-political-content-on-instagram-and-threads?ref=joshuajohnson.me) recommending political content to users. An option in the settings would bypass this, but Meta’s apps would suppress the content by default. Bad news for *The Night Light*, especially since the presidential election has become an enormous turn-off. I was counting on voter interest to bring in new subscribers. Also, the app formerly known as Twitter feels even more awful these days. X defaults to the For You column — favoring more incendiary posts and clickbait — rather than the Following column, showing the accounts you actually chose to see. These days more of my posts are met with misguided attacks or, more often, an almost instantaneous reply from a bot impersonating a scantily clad woman that reads, “N⬜️U⬜️D⬜️E⬜️S⬜️I⬜️N⬜️B⬜️I⬜️O”. Using X feels like living in Manhattan: lots of good stuff still there, but you get used to walking past filth all day. Even in the “nice” areas. Today a close friend urged me to pivot in hopes of growing on Instagram. The NPR and MSNBC crowds tend to be more of my fans, but they’re generally less active on IG. Maybe, I suggested, relying on social was the wrong move. It might be smarter to just place ads targeting NPR, *1A* and MSNBC. That way I’m more likely to intercept the right people and grow faster. Their response? Nope. More bite-sized, less long-form. Okay, I guess that’s an option. I still want to find everyone who would like *The Night Light* as it is. That will keep me going long enough to attract a wider audience. Perhaps I can do both. Why not start with the people who are most likely to support me, rather than the people who are not? Nope. “The world you grew up in is gone,” they flatly told me. A volcano erupted behind my eyes. Thankfully I was in an airport lounge, so keeping my composure was non-negotiable. I ended the discussion quickly and politely, put on some loud music and stoically marched to my gate. In a TED Talk, author Anne Lamott once said, “[Help is the sunny side of control.](https://www.ted.com/talks/anne%5Flamott%5F12%5Ftruths%5Fi%5Flearned%5Ffrom%5Flife%5Fand%5Fwriting/transcript?showDubbingTooltip=true&ref=joshuajohnson.me)” Lots of us help with good intentions, but we still get bad (or no) results. We can forget that a creative project, a business venture, a life change or even a fitness routine can reflect something deeply personal. *The Night Light* isn’t my side hustle. It expresses who I am and what I stand for. In my conversation with this person I used the analogy of a Porterhouse steak: sizzling, savory, served perfectly. If you serve the Porterhouse as intended, one person can enjoy that one steak. How do you get more people to know how delectable it is and, potentially, grow your steakhouse faster? Well, you could dice them up into dozens of pieces and serve them on toothpicks to whomever walks by, as if they’re Costco samples. Either way, it’s the same steak. Except it’s not. That’s like saying a movie is the same if you just watch the greatest, most classic scenes. It’s the same *meat*, but the *steak* is gone. Some meals are meant to savor, not nibble. Just because most people would only want a taste doesn’t mean you abandon the steakhouse for the food court. To be fair, their argument has some merit. I totally get why the NFL offers a “red zone” package, where you just watch the touchdowns and major plays instead of the whole game in real-time. Options can be good. And it probably wouldn’t hurt a restaurant to offer samples now and then. The late journalist Robert MacNeil, co-creator of what is now the *PBS NewsHour*, once said: “The American public is smarter than they’re often given credit for on television, and they don’t all need things in little bite-sized, candy-sized McNuggets of news.” The keyword there: “all”. Everyone’s not ready for a Porterhouse. McNuggets are perfect when you’re younger or haven’t developed your palate. We can have both, and we can use both to meet our needs. The notion that long-form is inherently better than short-form can easily slide into elitism and rose-colored nostalgia. When nightly newscasts started on American television, they were only 15 minutes. It took decades before the *CBS Evening News* pioneered the half-hour. Having said that, there are two reasons to cut up all your Porterhouses: so strangers can gobble it, and so children won’t choke on it. But why stop there? Maybe we put the Porterhouse in a meat grinder. Then we can catch sharks with it. *Sharks!* > “Help is the sunny side of control.” > —Anne Lamott Coming home from this trip, I feel a mix of gratitude and pressure. I’m grateful to celebrate how much I’ve grown and to help another generation thrive. That fills me with hope. With that comes a massive obligation to use the difficulty before me. I preached it. Now I have to practice it, for their sake and mine. This week I spoke with a few UM professors about political polarization. I told them that the polarization may be a symptom of a deeper malaise: a dreadful, shaky feeling that this nation no longer feels like home. We look “polarized”, but I suspect we’re actually lonely. Journalism ought to explore this loneliness and work hard to ease it. Democracy, and in some cases public safety, are at stake if enough people don’t help bridge our divides. I believe millions of Americans would help light the way forward, if they didn’t have to do it alone. This next phase of *The Night Light* will focus on acceleration. I’ll need your help with that. And yes, much of that may have to be bite-sized. Porterhouse nuggets? *\*sigh\** Hey, a quarter of one percent is a good thing, I guess… right? After meeting those students, giving up feels unthinkable. Let’s pick it up and smash it.