• Featured Stories
  • Journal
  • Instagram
  • Portfolio
  • About Me
  • Contact
Menu

Raja Hamid

  • Featured Stories
  • Journal
  • Instagram
  • Portfolio
  • About Me
  • Contact
Recent posts
Goode Mountain — Northeast Buttress beta
Goode Mountain — Northeast Buttress beta
2025 Goals.png
Outdoor goals for 2025 - effort vs interest matrix
Kauai and Maui - trip notes
Kauai and Maui - trip notes
Popular posts
2025 Goals.png
Outdoor goals for 2025 - effort vs interest matrix
Atoma: Rosette
Best things I've eaten around Seattle (second half of 2024)
Joule: short rib kalbi steak, grilled kimchi
Best things I've eaten around Seattle (first half of 2024)

Message me

Name *
Thank you!

My favorite Seattle resources

December 14, 2021

It’s been 6 months since I’ve moved to Seattle from New York City, where I’ve spent the entirety of my life. I made the cross-country move because Leah got into the University of Washington for a grad school program; I was more than happy to pack up and settle in closer to the mountains. She would’ve started in 2020, but remote learning sounded lame so we deferred the move for a year. During quarantine, I daydreamed almost daily about being in the PNW.

If you know me, you’ll know I have an obsessive personality. I got to know New York City pretty damn well in my 20s after countless hours of research and discovery of the food, nightlife, history, and vibe. I wanted to immerse myself into Seattle culture similarly so I could make the most of my new home once I arrived. Below is a list of what I read, listened to, and watched for well over a year, all in the hopes of getting a faint pulse on what living here could be like. This list is intended entirely for the benefit of you, who may be a recent transplant like me. If you’ve been around for a while and have recommendations, drop em in the comments.

Politics/News

KUOW Seattle Now - A 12-15min podcast that drops an episode every weekday covering a mix of local and national headlines. Always upbeat, often funny and interesting. It’s the first podcast I listen to during my morning warm-ups. KUOW (local NPR station) has other podcasts, but this is the only one I really liked.

r/SeattleWA and r/Seattle - I find it pretty easy to stay on top of local news and politics for Seattle, and I’ve never felt that way in New York City despite growing up there. Seattle feels more like a really big town than a major city. Initially I was annoyed there were two subreddits that seemed like duplicates. I later learned that one is a lot more frustrated than the other one about the homelessness problem. Seattle is a progressive city, but there’s a far left base and a center-left base. Both sides seem to think the other is totally wrong. If I had to guess, Seattle will trend more center-left in the next decade because of higher-income earners from tech jobs.

Food

Eater Seattle - I ignore the “Essential” and “Hottest Brunch” maps, I zero in on the posts about the general food scene, focusing more on neighborhoods, restauranteurs, and local policies. It all helps me get a sense of what folks here prioritize in a meal. The Infatuation is cool too, but there’s more of a focus on simple lists (which are great too).

Your Last Meal - This isn’t a Seattle-focused podcast, but the host (Rachel Belle) is based out of here. The premise of each episode is to interview a mildly-famous celebrity and ask them what their last meal would be; she then researches the food and shares some cocktail-party knowledge insights. They’re always fun and she often finds a way to tie it back to Seattle. In one episode she tried to answer why Seattle has so many Thai restaurants. The answer was a lot more complicated than you’d think.

Little Free Bakery - Every Tuesday Lanne Stauffer fills a box up in front of her house with awesome pastries for anyone who happens to be walking by.

Too Good to Go - Several other cities do this, but I didn’t hear about this app til I moved here. Basically, for food that may go soon, a restaurant or shop can sell it for a steep discount rather than throw it away. It’s always a surprise bag what you get. We’ve scored several pounds of Theo’s Chocolates for $7 and brought it as a gift. Another haul was fresh pasta that would go bad in 4 days from a local shop.

City living

Evergrey daily newsletter - This is a free newsletter delivered daily to your inbox about what’s going on in Seattle. The local headlines are briefly summarized and interesting events are shared.

Buy Nothing - Maybe you’ve heard of these local groups after the NYTimes did a write-up recently. These are Facebook groups that are organized around specific neighborhoods, where members can post things that they’d like to give away or post about what they need. It’s all pretty wholesome and neighborly. I gave away a bunch of stuff before my NYC move. A few things I’ve gotten are boxes of cereal, a 1TB hard drive, and a milk frother that half-works. A few unusual things I’ve seen and have definitely not gotten (but have seen people excitedly claim) are a bowl of half-eaten pad thai and a pair of used women’s underwear. Hopefully there’s one in your neighborhood. It actually started on Bainbridge Island.

The Future of Rapid Transit in Seattle - This 15min YouTube video did a great job explaining what the different transit options were in the city. I work from home so I don’t take mass transit unless I’m heading to the airport, but it helped me make sense of the light rail, monorail, express buses, and streetcars. A pretty fun video to watch was this guy riding every single mode of Seattle transit, including ferries, in four hours. He did a great one explaining the city planning of Vancouver and how that contributed to what it’s like today. I really like the mass transit here, but I haven’t had a wild homeless encounter yet.

Seattle Met - Another news source but mostly I check em out for the culture stuff.

Nature

Beasts of Seattle podcast - This a six-episode series where the host shares the history of the area from the context of one animal that’s relevant to the city. The host, Samantha Allen, is the artist-in-residence for Town Hall and does a great job telling the story of salmon, sea otters, dogs, orcas, Sasquatch, and crows. My favorite episode was definitely the salmon one, after which I was inspired to check out Carkeek Park to see the spawning in action. Town Hall hosts a bunch of events as well, but I haven’t been to any yet.

Nick Zentner’s geology lessons - Nick Zentner is a geology professor at Central Washington University. He has a gift for teaching, effortlessly keeping you engaged and entertained. I first discovered him while trying to learn what a coulee was before my climbing trip to Vantage. There’s a lot of fascinating history that helped me appreciate the landscape of Washington a whole lot more.

History

The Good Rain by Timothy Egan - I haven’t read this book myself yet; Leah picked this up and would read excerpts of it aloud before sleeping sometimes. I can’t overstate how beautifully it’s written. Timothy Egan was the Seattle correspondent for the NY Times and tells the history of the Pacific Northwest in a really thoughtful way. It’s next on my list of books to finish.

The Resident Historian Podcast - Once a week Feliks Banel will share random stories about Washington’s history. It’s very much a “history nerd” podcast. The content is great but the presentation could tighten up a little more. I learned about DB Cooper (only successful sky-jacking in US history), how a high school kid designed the state license plate, the “Pacific Graveyard” of sunken ships at the mouth of the Columbia River, and more.

Outdoor activities

The Mountaineers - The Mountaineers is a pretty old institution that helps advocate for conservation, outdoor education, and responsible recreation. There’s an annual membership, but it gives you access to a rich community that loves the outdoors at all sorts of skill levels, activities, and courses. I think the “Seattle freeze” is bs. If you have a hobby, especially if it involves getting outside, it’s extremely easy to socialize. I’ve been here only a few months but did a few activities with the Mountaineers already like a wild mushroom foraging weekend; I will never look at the forest floor the same way again.

Facebook groups - Some days I wish I wasn’t into so many different sports. I feel like there’s never enough time to do it all. I will spend several lifetimes to get through all of my climbing, bike touring, backpacking, mountain biking, etc objectives if all I gave myself were weekends and PTO days. I’ve never wanted to quit my job more than after moving to Seattle.

  • Washington Hikers and Climbers - Pretty beginner-friendly. Great for checking out trail conditions given how many photos are posted daily.

  • Northwest Gravel Riders - I got into gravel cycling to get away from car exhaust fumes and see some beautiful scenery in solitude. There’s lots of fire roads through the foothills of the Cascades. Great resource of friendly people.

  • Seattle Rock Climbers - General climbing group chatter, great for finding gym or crag partners.

  • Seattle Mountain Running Group - Very serious group of strong runners that inspire me to train harder so I can someday sprint on ridgelines and alpine meadows.

  • PNW Peak Baggers - Not a fan of the name, but the people here post great beta about interesting routes. Great community.

  • Washington Skiing and Snowboarding - General ski/ride group, great for carpooling to resorts, getting latest conditions. Similar to Ski the Northwest.

  • Backcountry Touring In The Pacific Northwest - Once I get avy certified and get into backcountry skiing next season, this will be a great resource.

  • Washington’s Alpine Climbing and Ski Mountaineering group - Another advanced skills group with great beta.

  • PNW Mountain Bikers - General mountain biking in the broader area group. Great for reminding me to use my mountain bike.

  • PNW Wild Mushrooms - I joined this after the mushroom foraging weekend I did so I could retain the esoteric knowledge I picked up.

  • Seattle Mixed Climbing - A small but eager group of climbers hoping to grow the base of folks who are excited to swing sharp tools around at the crag. Haven’t joined any of their events because of a finger injury.

  • Climber Kyle’s blog - Kyle McCrohan is a local who is living out the adventures I’m daydreaming of. He writes great trip reports detailing it all so I see his stuff as a blueprint for my future goals.

WTA’s hike finder map - Washingtonians are so lucky to have such a cool resource. I sometimes use Hiking with my Brother’s map but it’s not as slick.

Claire Jencks (Mtn Biking) - Great YouTube channel on local mountain biking trails. Super helpful tips on navigating different bike parks.

Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance and Cascade Bicycle Club - Great for finding events. Becoming a member is optional but helps keep em around to advocate for cycling.

Tags: seattle
Comment
IMG_643286D79CD9-1.jpeg IMG_643286D79CD9-2.jpeg IMG_643286D79CD9-3.jpeg IMG_643286D79CD9-4.jpeg IMG_643286D79CD9-5.jpeg IMG_643286D79CD9-6.jpeg IMG_643286D79CD9-7.jpeg IMG_643286D79CD9-8.jpeg IMG_643286D79CD9-9.jpeg IMG_643286D79CD9-10.jpeg IMG_643286D79CD9-11.jpeg IMG_643286D79CD9-12.jpeg IMG_643286D79CD9-13.jpeg IMG_643286D79CD9-14.jpeg IMG_643286D79CD9-15.jpeg IMG_643286D79CD9-16.jpeg IMG_643286D79CD9-17.jpeg

Hiking Mt Pugh (8/9)

August 10, 2021

Filming the last 10 meals I'll miss most in NYC

May 25, 2021

Just days before leaving for Seattle, I completed and published my first video project. In the months leading up to my cross-country move, I had the idea that I should do a final lap at the ten spots I’d miss most. I wanted to remember and document this and decided narrating over video would tell this story best.

Working with video had intimidated me for years, so I stubbornly stuck to photography and writing. I knew that I needed to practice in order to strengthen that creative muscle, but nothing had inspired me to put in the work til now.

The easiest part about this project was choosing the ten places. What I found most challenging was getting over my own awkwardness about filming myself eating, talking into a camera in public, and explaining to the restaurant staff what I was doing. A lot of this was due to my personal distaste for coming off as an obnoxious influencer type. I never fully got over my reluctance with talking in front of a camera while strangers were around, but I did become more comfortable and relaxed as I ticked my way through the list. I could see this in the footage as there were notably fewer disfluencies (ums and uhhs) and other nervous ticks.

During the editing process, I assumed I’d feel uncomfortable with the sound of my own voice but never did. Instead, I never really thought about how the person on my screen was actually me from a few hours earlier. I’m not sure why that is, but it’s not because I put on a persona that was untrue to me. I wanted to keep it pretty understated, obviously I wasn’t going to beg people to smash that subscribe button.

Similarly, I wanted to keep the filming equipment as simple as possible. I entertained the idea of a special mic that would cut down on wind noise, but quickly became overwhelmed trying different equipment and even ruining some footage. I was spending more time on the the hardware and not enough on the content (or other important things like packing for the move). I told myself that only if I got more seriously into this, then I could justify the additional expense.

Someone suggested I do this in Seattle to document the dining scene there. I doubt this would happen. The reason this topic was compelling to me was because of the relationship I had to the city and its food scene. Doing this as a new transplant to Seattle would lack all of the nuance and cultural awareness that comes with being a native or long-time resident. The restaurants would be just another place to eat, unlike these ten in NYC where each spot is a trigger for personal memories from my past. I’ll miss them the same way I’ll miss my friends.

Also shooting food videos is work. There’s not a lot of fun in holding a camera to your plate instead of enjoying it fully or pointing it around a restaurant when other people are trying to eat. I was happy to put a spotlight on these locations though, especially after the pandemic. Also, I now have no worries about these places getting longer lines since I’m outta here!

I was most touched by the reaction from the Reddit r/nyc community (see here). I’ve been a part of that group for years and they can be quite critical, especially when it comes to food or self-promotion. Everyone was so sweet and supportive with their comments. For several of them, it made them nostalgic for NYC. Someone who was moving out said they’d try this list as well while they packed their things. Mostly it was a lot of people wishing me well and agreeing with my picks.

Overall, I felt pretty happy with how this project turned out. I’m glad I put in the work and not quit halfway through (as I was tempted to do early on). I’ll mostly like play around with making other videos.

Tags: video, food, nyc, new york city
Comment
Screen Shot 2021-03-06 at 2.26.24 PM.png

Margaret Atwood Teaches Creative Writing - Masterclass review

March 06, 2021

This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something, I may earn a commission. Thanks for supporting me!

Length: ~4hrs, 23 lessons

My rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5)

My one-liner takeaway: You don’t have a compelling story until the pattern of normalcy is broken; something has to happen.

Margaret Atwood is responsible for giving the world The Handmaid’s Tale (now a hit show on Hulu) but also for other novels that force us to pause and think about our own world, despite being a writer of fiction. To successfully create these kinds of universes, she has to strike the balance between something that is too complicated and just complicated enough to be brilliant. For budding writers, she suggests that they study the structures used in classical stories (e.g., Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Arabian Nights, etc) in order to successfully create deviations from them. One example of a deviation is trying out different perspectives of a narrator through trial and error, even asking yourself whether the narrator should know more or less than the characters in the story. In terms of character development, she stresses the importance of keeping the reader engaged. A successful character is one that the reader (and perhaps even you) can’t anticipate the next moves.

She also gives some practical tips on what to think about if you’re interested in reaching a wide audience. The beginning of your story is the most important, and there’s a good chance you won’t know how to write the beginning until you’ve written most of the manuscript. While the reading of your story is linear, the writing process shouldn’t be. When talking about the conclusion of a story, she calls out that unlike in previous centuries, modern audiences are more accepting of open endings rather than having it all tied up in a bow. My favorite part about the course was her explanation of speculative fiction, which takes elements of the present and extends them out to the future. The horrors of the world in The Handmaid’s Tale, she notes, were all trends that she observed at the time of the writing. I hadn’t realized it, but this was a genre that I loved quite a lot (1984, Brave New World, etc) when I was in high school. While I wish I had gotten exposure to her work earlier, but I’m happy I ended the course with a few new books added to my reading list.

If you’d like to hear it directly from Margaret Atwood, check out her course here. As of now there are over 100 instructors to learn from, with more being added every week!


This review is part of a larger series, where I try learning from every single course within the catalog. Find my full list here.

Tags: masterclass
Comment
Screen Shot 2021-03-02 at 6.57.09 PM.png

Ken Burns Teaches Documentary Filmmaking - Masterclass review

March 02, 2021

This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something, I may earn a commission. Thanks for supporting me!

Length: ~5hrs, 26 lessons

My rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)

My one-liner takeaway: Nothing else comes close to teaching you how to put together film like actually putting together a film.

I’ve taken more notes on this Masterclass than any other I’ve seen so far. Ken Burns uses the entire five hours effectively to share his theory around documentary film as well as the practical advice on the craft. He is a big proponent of getting in there and making something, rather than poring over books to figure out how to make the first step. Your first film will be your best teacher as he says. The course has plenty of case studies where he walk through various drafts of his past films, explaining why certain choices were made. In between these demonstrations, he provides thoughtful guidance like his warning that filmmakers should feel comfortable holding contradictory story lines, as the collective truth is always more telling than the singular truth. A successful documentary filmmaker’s role is not to find some kind of objectivity.

This kind of a nuanced approach to history allows Ken to connect the dry dates and names of history with an emotional narrative that brings the dead to life as he likes to say. He says that he uses the same framework and tools of storytelling that a feature film from Martin Scorsese would use for a blockbuster. I understand what he means by this. Despite the fact that the outcome is known (he is repackaging history), there’s still an arc that has suspense, drama, and leaves room for surprise. Ken goes into detail on a broad range of topics, covering pitching ideas, fundraising, scripting, scoring, interviewing, editing, researching, and more. It’s a great use of five hours especially if you’re a fan of his work and are curious to hear how the magic is made.

If you’d like to hear it directly from Ken, check out his course here. As of now there are over 100 instructors to learn from, with more being added every week!


This review is part of a larger series, where I try learning from every single course within the catalog. Find my full list here.

Tags: masterclass
Comment
Screen Shot 2021-02-15 at 1.40.43 PM.png

Natalie Portman Teaches Acting - Masterclass review

February 15, 2021

This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something, I may earn a commission. Thanks for supporting me!

Length: ~2hr30min, 20 lessons

My rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)

My one-liner takeaway: Acting is an exercise in empathy, so being good at it requires you to be sensitive to your character, the crew, and the environment you’re in.

Natalie notes that her young start into acting allowed her to take on the perspective of a learner more naturally, given the lower expectations everyone had from what a child might know. She encourages us to take on the same perspective, absorbing information like a sponge. In order for her performance on camera to flow comfortably, she spends a lot of time researching, even citing YouTube as a reliable source of learning. She strongly emphasizes focusing on the psychological arc of the character, the dynamic between the other characters and yours, and how your character thinks the other characters are thinking of you. It’s apparent that while others may be playing one-dimensional checkers, Natalie’s playing three-dimensional chess. I later learned she has a degree in psychology from Harvard. Makes sense.

Natalie’s course is full of extremely practical tips, even with a set of exercises that can be implemented by anyone who hopes to be a better actor. She’s extremely good at articulating complexity, and it feels like she’s speaking casually to a friend at times. One of my favorite moments is an actual demo in a fictional scene that Masterclass set up. She acts and breaks the fourth-wall occasionally to provide commentary on why she did something. The course really showed me that it’s not like the camera starts rolling and magic just happens with the people on set. There’s a whole lot of thought to every decision, an entire process for understanding your character’s mindset, how they may use props, and how they want to represent themselves inwardly vs outwardly. Acting can seem like a very abstract art form, but in this course Natalie helps provide a layer of almost scientific thought to the craft.

If you’d like to hear it directly from Natalie, check out her course here. As of now there are over 100 instructors to learn from, with more being added every week!


This review is part of a larger series, where I try learning from every single course within the catalog. Find my full list here.

Tags: masterclass
Comment
Screen Shot 2021-02-13 at 3.21.35 PM.png

Dominique Ansel Teaches French Pastry Fundamentals - Masterclass review

February 13, 2021

This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something, I may earn a commission. Thanks for supporting me!

Length: ~3hr30min, 17 lessons

My rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)

My one-liner takeaway: Once you understand the fundamentals and master the precision, what makes baking fun are the opportunities for creativity.

I’ve known of Chef Dominique since my food blogging years and from walking past his SoHo bakery on my way to work, sometimes stopping in for a pastry whenever I needed the boost. I eventually noticed the multi-hour long lines snaking around the block and the super-stardom he enjoyed for bringing the cronut to the world. I found it all a pretty stupid fad. No food is worth waiting hours for in a city like New York (almost anything is delicious if you wait long enough), and it seemed most of the joy of a cronut was from telling your social media circle that you scored a box. I never let my cynicism carry over to how I felt about Dominique. I still think his DKA pastry (Dominique’s Kouign Amann) is one of his best. It just doesn’t have much of a hashtag-friendly name.

From the first lesson, it was clear that Dominique would be a great teacher. He doesn’t come off as flashy and seems quite humbled to be behind the camera. In the telling of his background, he attributes much of his success to taking risks and always leaning into the hard problem he’s presented with. The first pastry he teaches is how to make a madeleine. Despite how basic he makes the process feel, he brings a tremendous amount of passion in how he describes the steps and what makes for a perfect one. Throughout the course I felt like he was extremely patient with me, which is weird to say since I could pause him at my will. He fills those repetitive moments mixing dough with fun stories about his apprenticeship. One favorite moment is when he shows a contraption he jerry rigs together by combining a power drill with a hand-cranked apple peeler to help his staff create fruit tarts in the autumn. Another great moment is where he shares that every single day he has his team of chefs around the world send him cross-sectional photos of their croissants so he can maintain quality control. He shares a few of those photos and points out what improvements they could have made. There was nothing in the course that I felt I couldn’t make right after the video ended. It was a reminder that the attitude of an instructor makes a huge difference in how well you end up understanding something.

If you’d like to hear it directly from Dominique, check out his course here. As of now there are over 100 instructors to learn from, with more being added every week!


This review is part of a larger series, where I try learning from every single course within the catalog. Find my full list here.

Tags: masterclass
1 Comment
Screen Shot 2021-02-13 at 3.20.47 PM.png

St. Vincent Teaches Creativity and Songwriting - Masterclass review

February 13, 2021

This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something, I may earn a commission. Thanks for supporting me!

Length: ~2hrs, 16 lessons

My rating: ★★★☆☆ (3/5)

My one-liner takeaway: The ultimate goal of a songwriter is to serve the song, and the only way to do that is to be open to trying out all those ideas in your head.

I’ve listened to and enjoyed a few of St. Vincent songs, maybe just one or two. She’s a Grammy-winning solo artist and is very popular amongst the NPR-listener crowd. I might say she’s this generation’s David Bowie, but I don’t know enough about Bowie to make that assertion confidently. She starts off the class by saying anyone responsible for taking an idea to completion can benefit from this course. I wouldn’t go that far. Most of her course is her (sometimes brilliant) ramblings on her songwriting and editing process. It’s clear that it all makes sense in her head. She might struggle to find the words, and resolve to play a tune to make the point, finishing with a nod to the camera as if to say “there, you get it now too.” Some of her ramblings don’t land very well, like the firm assertion that happy songs are trash or other pretentious musings about the identities of St. Vincent and Annie Clark (her actual name).

Although I found much of the course awkward due to the lack of a structured thought process, there were some pieces of wisdom in there and it helps that the videos are regularly punctuated by her crooning vocals and masterful guitar picking. For example, for songwriting she gives the very practical advice that your song should have some epiphany, a realization for either the narrator or the listener. Another great tip was to play with an instrument you’re unfamiliar with to break out of a creative rut. Throughout the process of editing, she asks “does this serve the song?” and ruthlessly subtracts but isn’t shy to try something weird just for a sec to hear what it sounds like. Finally, another great point she makes that’s applicable to anyone is to be open to learning and putting yourself in an uncomfortable situation. She notes that the first time she worked with a choreographer, she resisted any attempts to do funky dance moves by insisting she couldn’t play at the same time. Eventually, she learned to love it and realized how emotionally powerful movement could be for her performances.

If you’d like to hear it directly from St. Vincent, check out her course here. As of now there are over 100 instructors to learn from, with more being added every week!


This review is part of a larger series, where I try learning from every single course within the catalog. Find my full list here.

Tags: masterclass
Comment
Screen Shot 2021-02-13 at 3.19.17 PM.png

Joe Holder Teaches Fitness and Wellness Fundamentals - Masterclass review

February 13, 2021

This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something, I may earn a commission. Thanks for supporting me!

Length: ~2hr30min, 12 lessons

My rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5)

My one-liner takeaway: A healthy life is about a lot more than just lifting weights and looking good.

I hadn’t heard of Joe Holder before this Masterclass. He’s a master trainer with Nike and an extremely wholesome and thoughtful guy. Throughout the videos he explains his philosophy for personal fitness and wellness. His holistic approach goes beyond the aesthetics and focuses on understanding your values. He does focus the bulk of the course on physical exercise paired with a primer on nutrition and an articulation of the importance and meaning of recovery. The course includes three half-hour long workout sessions focused on mobility, strength, and HIIT.

Joe explains much of what I’ve already known in simple terms for an audience that may not have nerded out on exercise theory. Unlike most trainers at gyms, he doesn’t introduce complicated movements or have the listener feel boxed in with diet restrictions. Instead he provides simple frameworks that are easy to remember and apply. One area that I’m glad he touched on was evangelizing the value of quantitative and qualitative data. I’ve found this to be one of the most game-changer adjustments to my routine. Here’s a template of my log on Airtable (you’ll have to make a free account). I would’ve loved an additional hour of non-workout content, but overall thrilled that this was made available.

If you’d like to hear it directly from Joe, check out his course here. As of now there are over 100 instructors to learn from, with more being added every week!


This review is part of a larger series, where I try learning from every single course within the catalog. Find my full list here.

Tags: masterclass
Comment
Screen Shot 2021-02-13 at 3.16.56 PM.png

David Axelrod and Karl Rove Teach Campaign Strategy and Messaging - Masterclass review

February 13, 2021

This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something, I may earn a commission. Thanks for supporting me!

Length: ~5hrs, 24 lessons

My rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5)

My one-liner takeaway: You can’t possibly get everyone’s vote, so be strategic about how you spend your time, funds, and energy.

It’s an unusual pairing, seeing Karl Rove and David Axelrod sharing a screen with a shared message. Rove and Axe were the masterminds behind the successful presidential campaigns of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, respectively. It’s immediately clear that they both have a deep respect for each other. Regardless of how they feel about each other’s political leanings, they emphasize that there’s much to learn from the other guy. The course breaks down the lengthy campaign cycle, the process nuances that go unnoticed by the public, and the emotional grind on the candidate and staffers. Rove and Axe take turns covering a broad and comprehensive set of factors and challenges a campaign will need to address: opposition research, debate prep, using media, target messaging, and more. Throughout the course they occasionally break away from the instruction manual and speak directly to the viewer, stressing the importance of getting involved with a campaign in any capacity.

Running a campaign involves being able to direct research, pivot decisively, communicate effectively, anticipate headwinds, conduct deep analysis, and having strong leadership. In many ways, it’s no different than running a large company, except with more pressure and an accelerated timeline. They broke away from the script near the end, when discussing the current state of politics. Both Rove and Axe acknowledged that the election of Trump had a negative impact on our democracy, but they seemed to blame the opposing party for the mess we’re in. It almost felt like watching talking heads on CNN. The course is quite thorough, but felt overly academic and textbook-like. It is dense subject matter and the do include several case studies to ground the rules and theories in reality.

If you’d like to hear it directly from David and Karl, check out their course here. As of now there are over 100 instructors to learn from, with more being added every week!


This review is part of a larger series, where I try learning from every single course within the catalog. Find my full list here.

Tags: masterclass
Comment
Newer / Older
Back to Top

email: raja [@] rajahamid.com
ig: rajawashere