Lane Drugs

My grandfather owned and operated 26 pharmacies in New Jersey called “Lane Drugs”. He was taught as a compound pharmacist, meaning he was taught how to make the drugs being prescribed and this led to, without a doubt in my mind, some illegal cough medicines helping me through my seasonal colds as a child. Legality aside (I’m alive still, so…) he was a community family pharmacist. He loved serving his community, knowing everybody who walked into his stores and gave back. These were his values and he believed in them greatly.

His first pharmacy was “Alpert’s Liggett-Rexall Pharmacy” and eventually combined with Lakewood Pharmacy in 1960 under the name Lane Drugs.

He adopted his business partners last name, in part because his jewish last name might lead to a narrower clientele. Admittedly, Lane Drugs is also a fine name for a drug store.

I cannot make prescription drugs, I can barely compound anything in the math and science fields, but I can openly discuss 10 years of working in digital and social media across ESPN, TMZ, Amazon Games, The Young Turks, Ballys Corp and more. Metaphorically, I can prescribe low-fi poorly drawn microsoft paint art and some words along with it.

This is a space to share my work. Austin Kleon has had tremendous impact on my creative works through his books “Steal Like An Artist”, “Keep Going” and “Show Your Work”. I love to write. I don’t love sharing my writing. I have no idea if I am any good at it, but feel that it almost always comes off as cringe or rambling disconnected thoughts. Imposter syndrome is a battle for many, depression and anxiety is mountain for others. My brain dabbles in a little bit of it all.

I’m not sure you’ll find any life lessons here, but I do hope that social media managers, especially in the corporate work space, can relate in their struggle to communicate effectively with their bosses…or just survival tips.

In the words of my friend Hasan “you either work for assholes or work for yourself”.