This week, I cleaned off my desk, read all the mail I’ve gotten recently and started responding to all the query e-mails I’ve received from freelancers and publicists over the past six weeks. I’m not proud to say that these things don’t happen on a regular basis, but that’s the reality of my job.
It’s so fast-paced sometimes around here that I can’t seem to make time for the little things like this—and so when I do, it genuinely feels like a new beginning.
And I love new beginnings, so this is probably the way it’s going to stay!
We’re Shaker crazy here at Hammock. Not only does the May/June issue of American Spirit feature a cover story on the restoration of the Mount Lebanon Shaker Village in New Lebanon, N.Y., but Jamie recently paid a visit to the beautifully restored Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill. (Read about her trek to Kentucky here.)
General James T. Conway, 34th Commandant of the US Marine Corps, leads the May/June issue of Semper Fi, which we publish for the Marine Corps League. In an exclusive interview in late March with Semper Fi contributor Otto Kreisher, General Conway presented a frank assessment of the state of the Corps as it winds down its presence in Iraq and moves in greater numbers into Afghanistan as part of the Long War on Terror.
Recently a wine-buff friend of mine poured a glass of pricey Bordeaux for me. “How about that aroma?” he asked. I had to confess to him that my sense of smell has deteriorated a lot. “I usually smell good, but I don’t smell well,” I quipped.
Few pairs of words get more groans from us grammar hair-dividers than “well” and “good.” Above, “good” describes me, while “well” describes my olfactory prowess. Each word can be either a noun or an interjection without any confusion; “well” can also be either an adjective or an adverb, while “good” can serve as an adjective.
And this is where the debate starts.
I first heard about the Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill near Lexington when American Spirit featured Kentucky in its travel section a few years ago. With the Shakers as the cover story of our May/June issue, I decided it was time to pay a visit to America’s largest restored Shaker community for a firsthand look at a utopian way of life.
The Shakers lived by the saying, “Hands to work, hearts to God.” But as one of Pleasant Hill’s costumed guides remarked, their motto also could have been: “Work smarter, not harder.” Many of the artifacts on display in the living history museum (made up of 34 restored buildings in the middle of 3,000 acres of farmland) were labor-saving devices, which the Shakers did not patent, freely sharing with the world. (Although their claims to be inventors of the clothespin and circular saw are unlikely, their dumbwaiters and flat brooms and kitchen gadgets were models of efficiency.) Even some Shaker barns were built on slopes so that hay could be pitched downward instead of upward. Smart choice if you’ve ever shoveled out a barn!
The goods they sold to the “outside world,” from packaged seeds to classic furniture, were known for their reliability and craftsmanship. However … even though there’s evidence that their formula for house paint lasted more than 100 years, I’m not sure I’d like the idea of pulverized brick mixed with animal blood slathered on my walls.
Pleasant Hill does a great job bringing the Shakers’ principles to vivid life. I was mesmerized by craftspeople demonstrating Shaker techniques, from woodworking to spinning and weaving to broom making. (Tip: always hang your broom so the bristles don’t get bent.) And the village farm, with its heirloom vegetables and historic animal breeds, offered a hands-on look at the importance of agriculture to the Shakers. Actually, the farm might have been my favorite part of the community: I loved that Percheron horses are still used to till the gardens, English sheep are still shorn for their wool and Dominique chickens provide the eggs served at the Inn’s dining room. (Ok, it made me laugh, but I didn’t exactly love that one of the wily goats grabbed and ate half my map.)
Pay the Shaker community a visit if you’re ever up in bluegrass country. And be a pal and bring me back some homemade corn sticks and Shaker lemon pie.
Well, tomorrow’s the big day. It’s going to be an unseasonable 86 degrees for the Country Music Half Marathon, which my husband and I are running.
It’s going to be rough, so if you’re out watching tomorrow, yell at me (and wish me luck).
But I won’t need too much luck. To prepare, I’ve been singing “Eye of the Tiger” to myself for about the last week. I think it’s working. Tonight, I’ll probably watch “Rocky.”
I’ll check back in on Monday to let you know how it went. To all of you fellow Country Music Marathon (and Half Marathon) participants out there, good luck!
UPDATE (Monday, April 27): I crossed the finish line! It wasn’t pretty, but I finished. It was a very pretty day, but one that would have been better spent by the pool (and not running around Nashville). Here’s hoping for mostly cloudy with a slight drizzle on April 24, 2010!
6 Steps to a Productive Session
Before writing this post, I had no idea where to start. So what did I do? I sat down at my computer for 10 minutes and typed as much as I could on the reasons why I free write. The result wasn’t polished enough to post here, but it got me thinking. And that is the point of free writing—to remove the obstacles that block your creativity and get you thinking.
Also known as “stream of consciousness writing,” free writing is not that different from those grade-school exercises where the teacher would ask you to take out a piece of paper and write whatever you wanted on a topic until she called time. I used to hate it when my teacher would snatch up my paper before I was done, but what I didn’t realize then was that free writing isn’t about producing perfect prose. It’s about collecting and connecting your thoughts, and silencing that critical voice inside that keeps you from fully expressing yourself.
We often hear, and it was recently affirmed in the Angerosa Research Foundation’s Web 2.0: How Associations Are Tapping Social Media report, that the reason many associations fail to execute social media initiatives is because they lack an internal champion or advocate. The benefits social media can bring to an association are significant and include engaging younger members, creating member interaction, connecting event attendees and driving membership growth. That’s why it’s so important that someone in your organization becomes your association’s social media champion. Here are some tips for how you can become that very important advocate in your organization:
In his controversial novel “Starship Troopers,” sci-fi legend Robert Heinlein wrote of a future military corps called the Mobile Infantry. Highly selective and totally volunteer like today’s US Marine Corps, the MI were usually the point of the spear, and were equipped with spacesuit like outfits that augmented their natural muscular abilities. The so-called powered suits – far more advanced than, say, Robocop’s – allowed them to run faster and farther, lift heavy objects, carry immense loads including all sorts of weapons and ordnance, and to survive attacks by many types of weapons.
The future is knocking at our door.
At the 2009 Marine South Expo at Camp Lejeune, NC, Lockheed Martin and Berkeley Bionics gave the Marine Corps its first look at what might be called the Mark 1 MI suit. Dubbed the HULC – Human Universal Load Carrier – the powered “exoskeleton” was shown off to the Army a few weeks earlier. L-M is tasked to deliver a working version within 18-24 months.
The titanium framework allows the warrior to easily carry an extremely heavy load of gear – the demo at Marine South had 145 pounds of gear not counting the device itself – with the goal of enabling a Marine or Soldier to maintain a 3 mph pace long enough to cover 26 miles before the lithium ion battery pack would require charging. The system could include arm assistance that would enable them to lift heavy object easily and without risk of back injury.
Sensors pick up the Marine’s movements so the suit “anticipates” what he or she is about to do – walk, run, jump, squat, etc. The exoskeleton can be programmed to the Marine’s weight and height, allowing it to be customized to each wearer.
There’s a video showing what HULC can do… today. The challenges now are to continue to refine the system to operate even more smoothly, to improve battery life, and to make the units even lighter and more powerful.
As you might imagine, the futuristic exoskeleton drew a lot of attention from 2nd Division Marines, many of whom are just returned from or about to deploy to the Middle East and Southwest Asia. Dismounted Marines – a fancy way of saying Leathernecks on foot – often carry loads of 100 pounds, including uniform, weapons, armor, water and electronics. It’s a tough thing to do, even for these phenomenally fit young men and women. So something like this powered suit could help immensely.
Marine South is sponsored by our client, the Marine Corps League. This was the 17th show held at Camp Lejeune (pronounced, Luh-jern, per the family), bringing Marines and military suppliers together to discuss current products and services to make them better for Marines in the field. More than 3,600 visitors checked out items and services from 200 vendors.
When we work on custom publications for our association and corporate clients, we always keep the interests and passions of their members and readers in mind. According to a recent study, those readers are taking notice.
The Roper Public Affairs and Media/Custom Publishing Council study — Americans’ Relationship With Customer Publications and the Companies That Provide Them — was released in March. The 2009 report is an update to a study conducted in 2005 and an examination into Americans’ thoughts and feelings about electronic publications.
