Panopticon Agency: The Blog Files

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From the Desk of Your Humble Editor

A Brief Orientation for the Curious, the Lost, and the Lightly Caffeinated

Welcome to the Panopticon Agency blog—part memoir, part field report, part mildly controlled creative combustion. This is where we catalog the tangle of ideas, memory, place, and personality that shapes our work (and moods). You may want to look elsewhere if you’re here for linear thinking and actionable tips. Pull up a chair if you’re here for story-driven insight, rooted in both the real and the half-remembered.

Let’s begin with geography. Darien, Connecticut? Real. We’ve lived here. Walked these sidewalks. Rode the Metro-North into Manhattan. We can still smell the low tide if we leave the window open. The Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall in Noroton Heights is real, and so is the ballfield behind it, where Little League games felt mythic and someone was always burning hot dogs. Pear Tree Point Beach, with its sea wall and salt-soaked wind? Also real. As is the independent bookshop downtown—a beautiful reminder that some stories still begin in ink and wood.

But the characters we write about—Brandon Mavrick, his impossibly composed wife Eve, their dazzling daughter Sue Ellen, brooding brother Luke, and their oracular mother Willow—are entirely fictional. They are shaped by truths, yes, but not by the census. They exist nowhere except here: in blog entries, scribbled notes, and the shaded corners of our creative minds.

Then there are the places that used to be real. Over in adjacent Stamford, Caldor had a  great record department way back when.  Bloomingdale’s, when it was still a reliable marker of arrival and aspiration. Bill & Fred’s a variety store right over the town line in Springdale, and a store with a memorable sign above the window: Kermes “Yes, We Have It”—no clarification needed, because somehow, they always did. These places are gone now, but they still define the way we think about space, about memory, about what makes a town feel like a shared story.

Panopticon Agency itself is fictional—but just barely. We’ve placed its office on the East Side of Manhattan. The agency deals in strategy, storytelling, and the occasional campaign that probably shouldn't have made it past Legal. The tone is sharp, the work is strange, and the staff dress code is under quiet protest.

This blog is a kind of overflow valve. It’s where fictional events blur with real geographies, and personal memories are allowed to stretch their legs a bit. Some posts are satire, some are semi-serious, some just aim to capture a feeling before it disappears. What ties it all together is a quiet reverence for the places that make us—and the characters who let us explore them a little more honestly than we sometimes dare in real life.

So. Welcome. To Darien. To Manhattan. To the Panopticon Agency. To the past, the present, and the ever-loyal Metro-North timetable.

We’re glad you found us.

— Your Humble Editor

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A serious non-fiction appeal for the Darien VFW

The real-world editors of this fictional business website have recently learned that the Darien VFW, a nonprofit fixture of the Darien Community for 79 years, is facing a financial crisis. The VFW building located at 205 Noroton Ave was originally the Chapel for America's first Veterans home built in the mid 1800’s. The chapel is currently a large hall and the downstairs houses a working bar open to the public.

As described in their GoFundMe page, the primary mission of the Darien VFW is to foster camaraderie among United States Veterans, educate and support the community and provide resources to veterans and their family members. They are now reaching out  to the community for financial support. Please consider making a donation to support their mission

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Are AI Chatbots Real? 03/22/25

Helvetica: A Love Letter 03/23/25

Case History: “Haunted by Deals”  03/23/25

Salt & Sugar Twins Campaign 03/23/25

The Lure of Other Places  03/24/25

Say “Good Morning” to Your Chatbot 03/25/25

Yard Sale at the Memory House 03/26/25

Opening Day 03/27/25

“I Sing for the Future” 03/29/25

The ‘Adopt-a-Steer’ Program 03/30/25

Is Advertising Dead? 04/01/25

Somewhere West of Laramie   04/09/25

They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano 04/09/25

Musings from the Boss, Vol. 1: The Clothing Directive 04/09/25

Case History: “Two Whistles, One Dream” 04/10/25

How to Explain to Your Client Why the Ad Flopped 04/12/25

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