Welcome to The Cameron Journal! We’re excited to meet you (digitally anyway).
About The Cameron Journal
The Cameron Journal is your online home for research and insights from Cameron Lee Cowan and his hand-picked contributors. The Cameron Journal specializes in analyzing culture and trends and keeping you up-to-date with the latest trends in society, politics, and worldwide. Whether with an article, podcast, or video, The Cameron Journal delivers content that people crave.
Our slogan is, “The World is complicated, this is not,” because we believe that most people do not have the time or energy to do all the reading and research necessary to be informed citizens. This is where old-fashioned journalism begins. Here at The Cameron Journal, it is not our job to tell you how to think, rather, it is our job to give you the information to make decisions for yourself. This is uncommon in the media landscape but has never been more vital for our country, our democracy, and our world.
If you want to listen to conversations with authors, watch videos with amazing leaders, or read the latest article on our society and politics, then keep The Cameron Journal handy, because it is all happening right here.
About Cameron
If this is your first time here and you’re trying to learn “who is this guy?”
Please keep reading!
I’m Cameron Lee Cowan, originally from Denver via Northwest Arkansas. I started writing in 2005, writing essays and short stories. I have a vintage flair in much of my work. All the twists and turns on my journey through music, fashion, theater, and writing have provided the background for my writing. I’ve seen exciting people and interesting things, and I do my best to find ways to tell those everyday stories and try to leave my readers with something profound. Whether I’m writing about the world around us at The Cameron Journal or creating a novel, I try to make an observation and leave the reader to decide how they think or feel about it.
I also write quite a bit about politics. My background is in political science and creative writing (shout out to the University of Northern Colorado, Norwich University, and Goddard College), and I’ve been involved in politics in some form most of my adult life. I got my start in Republican politics and was involved in Young Republicans. I’ve previously been the Managing Editor of a conservative magazine, and then in 2011, I moved to the left and started to become more liberal, although it seems that my party passed me by.
My favorite thing about writing is that through research, you can talk about almost anything. I like to explain things to people and try to make sense of the world. My hope for all my readers is that they’ll come away with something very much lacking in modern political debate: context.
Entrepreneurship
One of the most important aspects of my life is my ability to begin and grow a new business. I started my history in business with freelance writing, but I would later go on to found Picklehelm Omnimedia as a vehicle to promote mine and others’ creative projects.
We also owned a t-shirt brand, “The Influence Co.” We also created “Mad Man Decks,” a skateboard brand. I was primarily in charge of marketing and sales in my capacity with the company. I was responsible for placing our published comic books in shops, our skateboards in shops, and sales of our t-shirt brand. I am proud to say that although the company didn’t work out as I expected, we were in several shops throughout Colorado, and we sold out of our t-shirts every time we did a run of them.
I also created Picklehelm Records, a record label promoting local bands. We were able to use their music and exposure to support other parts of the brand and the company, as well as in our creative endeavors.
These skills would be helpful to me when I later went on to separate from the Picklehelm brand and create 3800 Omnimedia. After moving to Seattle, I focused on my business efforts on The Cameron Cowan Show (youtube talk show) and my blog. I did try a few other businesses along the way, including an independent digital bookstore specializing indie-published books.
I was on the ground floor of creating New Culture Magazine and helped found our vintage clothing boutique. I did everything from opening the store daily to selecting the clothing we should sell.
I have a strong passion for business and creating new companies that can facilitate people’s best ideas and move them into the world.
Music
I began taking lessons in classical flute when I was seven years old, and I continued playing through my early 20s. I was the recipient of the Colorado Flute Association award in 2006. The award requires building up 15 points over competitions through four high school years. It was a privilege to both play and teach at the Jefferson Symphony Youth Orchestra and play in band and orchestra at Beth Eden Baptist School. I was also a part of the Jefferson County Community Band from 2003-2006. I taught classical flute until 2008, and I also performed regularly at community events, nursing homes, and other gigs until 2010.
In 2009, I founded, with several friends, Picklehelm Records as a part of Picklehelm Omnimedia. In my capacity there, I trained bands in formal music training, booked gigs for them, and created public relations strategies to promote our music. I would later separate from the Picklehelm brand and re-brand as 3800 Records. I would take our music acts to various venues in the Denver area and create a popular mix-tape of popular songs from bands on our label called “The Denver Sound.”
Theater
I have been fortunate to be able to participate in some delightful aspects of community and semi-professional theater. As a child, I was privileged to take classes at the Heritage Square Opera House in Golden, Colorado. I was honored to perform there in children’s shows such as Heaven Help the Po-Taters, Red Riding Hood, and Cinderella. In 2020, I was privileged to write a short play (The Interview) for the 24-Hour Theater Festival at the Black Box Theater in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. I’ve also appeared in 12 Angry Men in a small playhouse in Denver. I’ve participated in the “Take Ten” short plays at Goddard College. In 2022, I will lead a reading of my play, The Interview, for a reading during this unique theater festival.
In 2011, I produced “Flight 93” a theatrical production of the original feature film script. I worked with the writer of the feature film script and directed the product, and co-produced the show.
I have also worked as a stand-up comic. I’ve hosted the drag and burlesque show at Broadways in Denver. I’ve headlined venues throughout Colorado in Denver, Fort Collins, and Greeley. I’ve also been privileged to do private shows for LGBT organizations as well.
Artist Statement from Cameron Lee Cowan, M.A. MFA
Why Do I Write?
My artistic journey has taken several interesting twists and turns. I started out as a musician, worked in politics, and ran magazines. For many artists, the creative call a singular one. For me, I had to really choose to do this. There were other paths available to me. I could have had a Ph.D. before I was 30 in my academic field. I could have pursued a corporate path. But instead, I chose to create. One of my first memories of this was a childhood writing group. Remember that I could hardly articulate myself on paper at the time. From childhood, I knew that I wanted to write. At 12 years old I could not form a coherent sentence in English. But I had much to say, and I wanted to write that down. By 17, I wanted to write articles, take adventures and perhaps be an essayist. College robbed me of much writing time, and graduate school wasn’t much help either. During this time, I put my attention towards making the written word pay by freelancing and doing copywriting work. It was hard, and some of it didn’t pay well. However, the discipline of writing in that way is something that has served me well.
Books are one of the oldest forms of expression. Our digital age has changed the nature by which books are sold and who decides what books are sold; the book format remains an important part of media. Books are the record of our civilization, and it is a privilege to contribute to that in any way possible. My work spans from an old form of creation to something that is new and still waiting to be understood by history.
Writing is a way to introduce new ideas and new concepts to people, and slowly those words percolate into the general human consciousness that permeates us all. Eventually, ideas become like a virus, and that virus spreads and infects our very souls and changes results soon after. That is why do what I do. My creation is meant only to create ideas. I create these ideas through stories, mostly the stories of the lived experiences of trauma and other events. Sometimes, the story around trauma is too elegant or too easy. My characters have problems, and I try to reflect on how real people live those problems. Trauma does not take place in a bubble. I am also into exposing how economic and other systems affect our lives in ways we don’t always understand.
As a writer, if you are lucky, history might remember you, and if you are really lucky, your thumbprint will remain on our human race for eternity.
I have published three books.
To Explore Cameron’s Samples:
Flux Magazine
The Good Men Project
34th Parallel
Please visit me on any of your favorite social media sites and you can sign up for my email list!
Past Writing Residencies
Gushul Writing Residency, University of Lethbridge, Alberta\
Rockvale Writers Colony, Franklin, Tennessee
Porches Writers Retreat, Charlottesville, Virginia
Craigardan, Elizabethtown, New York
