Here at Hammock, you’ll find lots of shoe junkies. From spikey black stiletto boots to jeweled flip-flops, we love to experiment with different styles. What you see on someone’s feet tells you a lot about who they are. So to learn more about the lives of colonists for our May/June issue of American Spirit, the magazine we publish for the Daughters of the American Revolution, our resident shoe connoisseur, Shannon McRae, followed the path of footwear in early America and found revealing tidbits about colonists, their sense of style and the influence of shoes on early American movements and customs.
Our Visions of America series takes readers on a journey of another kindﾑa pictorial walk through the history of Americaﾕs quintessential emblem of freedom, the Liberty Bell. From the bellﾕs beginnings as a symbol of the Quaker vision of freedom to its evolution into a universal icon, we explore its surprising past, as well as the mystery behind what the bell sounded like, where its legendary crack came from and what became of a replica bell the DAR helped cast years ago.
Another image revered by most Americans is the U.S. Capitol. Ironically, the designer behind this famous structure was a man who dabbled in many fields, but lived in obscurity. We delve into little-known life of William Thornton, a self-educated savant who gained respect among his contemporaries for his scientific, medical and architectural contributions, but whose legacy has largely been forgotten.
We also turn the spotlight on another group of Americans relegated to history’s shadowsﾑentrepreneurial women known as ﾒshe-merchantsﾓ who owned importing businesses. In an era when men dominated trade, these progressive women overcame hardship and limited legal rights to expand their empires. Maybe youﾕve never heard the names of ﾒMargaret Hardenbroekﾓ or ﾒElizabeth Murrayﾓ before, but after hearing their stories, youﾕll never forget them.

Hammock Publishing President and Founder Rex Hammock recently was interviewed by Peter Beisser from Publishing Executive magazine, where they discussed Hammock Publishing’s foray into innovative online media, as well as how Rex’s personal blog, Rexblog.com, has become a staple in the RSS readers of magazine industry folk.

“The president of Hammock Publishingﾑa Nashville, Tenn.-based custom publisher of print and online media, including 60 award-winning recurring titles created for various corporate and associationsﾑuses his digital soapbox to talk about industry news and offer links to interesting headlines on the Web. Heﾕll also post observations about other completely unrelated things that engross him as the day goes on. Hammock jumped onto the Web in its earliest days, and in the years since, he has worked to incorporate his love for online media throughout his entire organization.”

It’s no surprise to us here in the office that Rex is being featured as a go-to guy for conversational media discussion—he encourages our own involvement in the blogosphere, and he’s pretty much obtained celebrity blogger status in many circles.
Read the full interview online at Publishing Executive.

We Hammockites love our moviesﾑso much so that we wrap up our Monday morning staff meetings with reviews of flicks we watched over the weekend. Thatﾕs why we had fun in the March/April issue of American Spirit, the magazine we publish for the Daughters of the American Revolution, spotlighting a piece of the cinema making a comeback in communities across the countryﾑthe historic movie theater, one of the National Trust for Historic Preservationﾕs most endangered places. Our cover story details the saga of the grand, glittering movie palaces and chic neighborhood theaters of the early 20th century and the efforts to transform them into the cultural gems they once were.
With warmer weather on its way, we also delve into the roots of a tasty springtime ritual: tapping maples for sap to be boiled into syrup. Our story takes readers through the centuries-old maple-sugaring processﾑfrom harvesting the sap to converting it into the mouth-watering confection that sweetens your stack of Saturday morning pancakes.
American Spirit tells stories you wonﾕt find in most history books. This is particularly true of our ﾒRevolutionary Martyrsﾓ feature, a dramatic tale about British prison ships docked near present-day Brooklyn, N.Y., where thousands of Patriots died during the Revolution. By preserving a monument honoring these forgotten martyrs, groups like the DAR hope to make their sacrifice known to all Americans.
Those of us at Hammock who attempt to give up sweets for Lent usually cave once the Girl Scout cookie orders come in. Early Americans faced the same temptationsﾑwithout as many opportunities to cheat, as our Colonial junk food feature illustrates. Our peek into a Colonial cupboard reveals favorite indulgences of sweet-tooth lovers today, including French fries, doughnuts and ice cream.

This time of the year is tough. The holidays are over, your waistline has expanded and the weather outside is still frightful. Motivating yourself–much less your employees–is hard. Small-business owners everywhere battle burn out, so in the Feb./March issue of MyBusiness (the magazine we publish for members of the National Federation of Independent Business) Hammock’s Emily McMackin set out to find ways to make work fun again.
Staying engaged is just one of the many challenges involved in running a business. Many independent owners also struggle when their businesses experience rapid growth. In “Growth Gone Wild” Hammock’s Lena Basha talked to several owners about how they handle the often unanticipated problem of managing too much of a good thing.
With tax time just around the corner, the MyBusiness Manual offers small-business owners tools and tips on staying straight with the IRS. The only good thing about April 15–at least spring has arrived.

1. December 7 is your Hammock Day. How long have you been with Hammock Publishing? One glorious year.

2. What do you remember most about your first day here? That it took me more than an hour and a half to get here and just as long to get home. Luckily I was able to adjust my schedule so that it only takes me 45 minutes to an hour each way now, if there are no wrecks. (Or oil spills, like last night!!)

3. What is your favorite Christmas carol? You know, I’m not too big on Christmas songs (I think working in retail for eight years ruined all seasonal experiences for me.) But if I have to choose, the two I am least sick of hearing are Carol of the Bells and Greensleeves (the latter isn’t technically a Christmas song, I guess, but I tend to hear it more around this time of year.)

4. If you didn’t work at Hammock Publishing, what would you be doing? Crying in the welfare line. No? Well, I would probably still be in the communications department of my previous corporate job, watching all the talented, long-time employees around me get fired because some new CEO decided he didn’t like it that they had a good relationship with the CEO before him. And I would still be looking for a more fulfilling, less hostile job than that place.

5. What is your favorite, can’t-miss television show? I don’t really watch too much TV, but I do love CSI (the Las Vegas one) and House. That guy is so crotchety, but it’s brilliant.

6. Where did you grow up? Go to college? I grew up in Des Plaines, a suburb just a few minutes outside of Chicago. I moved to Murfreesboro to go to college at Middle Tennessee State University, where I majored in mass communications and Spanish. I liked it well enough here that I’ve lasted almost 10 years!!

7. What is your dream vacation destination? My last semester in college was spent studying in and around Madrid, Spain, and I would love to go back. People always tell me I should vacation someplace that I’ve never been before, but I loved the culture and my experiences there so much that I would go back in a heartbeat. I miss it every day; I can still remember what the air smelled like and how I felt walking down the streets.

8. What has been your most memorable day at Hammock Publishing so far? I guess so far it’s been my first day because I had no idea what to expect, but people keep telling me that the Christmas party will be an experience I’ll never forget. I’m excited, but a little nervous, too!!

9. What is the one thing you won’t leave home without? My cellphone. I know it sounds lame, but I am such a worrywart and I feel like if I don’t have it with me, something bad will happen. Murphy’s Law, I guess.

10. If you could switch places with any other Hammock employee for a day, who would it be and why? Carrie Wakeford, Kerri Davis or Lynne Boyer. It was always my secret dream to become a professional graphic designer, but I never really knew how to go about getting good training and therefore never seriously pursued it (I did some design at my previous job, but nowhere near the level of what these folks do). I’m definitely not one with natural talent in the arts, so my money was probably better spent studying what I did. It probably would have taken a looong time for me to get any good.

Are you born an entrepreneur, or do you become one? That’s the question debated in the cover story of the Dec./Jan. issue of MyBusiness, the magazine Hammock publishes for the National Federation of Independent Business. Researchers at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management recently found a strong connection between entrepreneurialism and genetics. But the small-business owners in this story say genes aren’t the strongest indicators of business success. Hard work, a willingness to take risks and a whole lot of passion for what you do ultimately influence whether you make it.
Regardless of your genetic makeup, once you’re in business for yourself, life can be stressful. That’s why our inspiring story about how to cope with some of life’s most difficult moments speaks to anyone. Faced with financial, emotional and physical set backs, the business owners we profiled dug deep and found the courage to keep themselves–and their businesses–going.
Check out these stories and more in the latest issue, including a staff favorite on how one Florida teenager earns a (sizable) living teaching others to play video games.

This time of year, as things speed up around us and we attempt to slow down to take it all in, our thoughts turn to giving thanks — and simply giving. So many times, the act of giving turns into a gift we never expected to receive.
From the arts to animals, from the hungry to the homeless, the folks at Hammock Publishing are dedicated and involved in giving back to each of our communities. We share these examples of giving back to our community not to toot our own horns, but to learn from each other, to get to know each other better, and maybe encourage one reader out there to give back to their community in their own way — big or small.

Barbara Mathieson: I give back by volunteering at the Nashville Zoo about 100 hours a year. After 9/11, I wanted to get involved in the community. The Zoo has been a perfect place for me in ways I never expected.
Because I care about animals so much, the Zoo gives me an opportunity to be around an exotic variety of them. Recently, I was in a room with two snow leopard cubs and was able to observe them up close. I’ve touched a giraffe and felt his breathe and have fed a grape to a cassowary. (Please don’t do anything like this without zoo staff supervision. These situations were closely monitored by staff members. Never feed a zoo animal.)
As a docent at the Zoo, I talk to visitors about our animals. I love meeting the wide variety of people who visit. Everyone comes to the Zoo. I was once showing Amish visitors snake sheds when two tattooed and pierced 20-somethings walked up, and all of us interacted with each other about the snake skin sheds. The cultural differences didn’t matter.
I’ve had the opportunity to meet folks from all over the world and from all ethnic, economic, political and religious backgrounds that I would have never met otherwise. It’s great to find our common interest.
Allison Lund: Most people that know me well would know that the majority of my “giving” is for animals. I’ve given (and still give) time, money and needed items to the Nashville Humane Shelter, Love at First Sight and the Metro Animal Control Facility. But I guess what I do most is take care of three stray cats that came with our house when Erik and I bought it. When we found out from the previous owner that these kittens had been born under the deck, I didn’t have the heart to take them to a shelter, but they were also too feral to be adopted into homes. I knew I had to get them spayed/neutered as we didn’t want any more cats, so I got some humane traps and was able to capture them and get them to a vet to be spayed/neutered and to get shots. They weren’t too happy with that, but after I brought them back to our yard, I worked at gaining their trust, named them, fed them, got dog houses for them (that are heated in the winter) and have been caring for them for almost four years. I always think I would love for them to have a permanent inside home, but they are still very scared of anyone but me and they do not like being inside. Plus, I know I would miss them.
Another way I have given to the community is through my church. The Downtown Presbyterian Church has a large homeless program and every Sunday they have a breakfast for the homeless. They open the church fellowship hall on Sunday mornings at 9 a.m. for what is usually a large homeless crowd. They are welcome to stay for the service afterward, but unfortunately most do not participate. For about two years, Erik and I volunteered once a month for the Sunday breakfasts. We don’t do it as often now as a lot of downtown businesses have started donating money, items and time/people to this cause on Sunday mornings.
Laura Creekmore: I don’t know that I could pick a favorite among these and many other things I do [not one to be bored], but I spend a lot of time working in the Junior League [www.jlnashville.org] — nearly 2,000 women in Nashville working to build a better community. I love that because much of my volunteer work there in the past few years has helped me to meet people working in nonprofit agencies throughout Nashville.
I am vice president of the board for East Nashville Cooperative Ministry, which works with the low-income and homeless people in my neighborhood, providing a variety of services. I love to volunteer on a good political campaign, too… mostly local races.
Bill Hudgins: The Gallatin Noon Rotary Club raises money through an auction and solicitation to take 100 or so youngsters Christmas shopping the weekend before Christmas each year. Members accompany the kids through Wal-Mart. They are supposed to get some basic clothes for themselves, but other than that are free to get gifts only for themselves or for anyone else, up to the spending limit. Members also wrap presents for the kids. In addition, each family gets a shopping basket brimming with canned ham, turkey, milk, eggs, bread, fruit, etc. My wife, Wilda, is a member and she is the unofficial photographer; I wrap. High-school students in the school versioni of Rotary also participate.
Two stories: One year, Wilda was taking pictures as a family was headed out the door. One of the children, a little boy, looked at the basket and said, “Look Mama, a whole gallon of milk!”
Another family, when they received the food basket, seemed reluctant to accept. One of our high-school members probed a bit and found out they family’s refrigerator didn’t work. She told her parents they were buying a fridge then and there, and it was delivered to the family so the Christmas food wouldn’t spoil.
This day is our Christmas. Everything else is just tinsel and garlands.
Megan Goodchild: I run the crazy cat house in the neighborhood. My boyfriend and I feed the stray cats in the neighborhood and, believe it or not, most of them end up finding permanent homes. We have taken two in ourselves; one we’ve gotten all his shots and let him stay inside whenever he wants. The other one is still an outside cat (he lives in a little doghouse on our back porch that we’ve filled with blankets and a heating disc), but once we can trick him into getting into the cat carrier, we’re going to take him to the vet to make sure he’s neutered and has all his shots, too.
Natalie Willis: I’m sad to say that my only giving this year is in the form of a canned foods donation that my daughter’s daycare is having. This Thanksgiving, I am focusing on giving thanks to my parents and in-laws for all the help they have provided during the past year. Jason and I rapidly grew to a family of four, and this is the first year that I have actually needed help from my family. I’ve always been self-sufficient until the arrival of Sienna and Tyler. My parents and in-laws have done more for me and my children than I could ever hope for.
Kerri Davis: We are sort of just getting into the giving part of the year, but so far we helped prepare a meal and some supplies for the Ronald McDonald house thru my daughter’s 4th grade class. We did this a couple of weeks ago. Their school also did a fund drive for the Graceworks food pantry last week. Every year during the winter months, our church hosts Room in the Inn and our Sunday school class sponsors a weekend night throughout the winter. We either provide, food, cleanup or spend the night services for that.
Rex Hammock: Many years ago, the Nashville Rotary club (of which I’ve been a member for 20 years) came up with an idea that I think is wonderful. Rather than spread their civic projects across a wide region, they determined to focus the club’s considerable voluntary efforts into one Nashville downtown neighborhood (nashvilletn.clubwizard.com/Projects.cfm: links on left go to individual agencies).
In addition to financial support, club members have built over 20 homes, restored a community park, worked with small businesses, and provided a wide array of scholarships, tutoring and mentoring services to kids in the community. Civic and church leaders from the neighborhood were recruited to join the Civic Club and to help determine priorities for the involvement of the club members. The project has been carried out for over a decade, and one of the most amazing by-products of the activities has been the personal relationships that have developed among young people in the community and the executives and governmental leaders who have volunteered for the projects. I have participated in several of the activities over the years — not nearly enough — and, as with any type of volunteer work in such a community endeavor — I always get back so much more than I put in.
John Lavey: I heard a sermon recently where they asked all of us in the audience to be honest about what gave us more pleasure: giving or receiving a gift? My kids were quick to say they’d rather receive one. I couldn’t blame them for thinking that because I would have agreed with them, until more recently than I would like to admit. However, then I realized how giving is truly more rewarding. I believe we give because it is more fun. That said, here are some of my favorite fun things:
1. Alternative Christmas Market. This very creative program offered through Christ Church Cathedral allows you to make choices about how you want to give, such as a week’s free meals and a week’s daycare for a family that needs it, or immunizations, or the ability to pay someone’s heat bill. We gave gifts to others this year by making gifts that were in their name to this program. What’s cool is that we can match people’s interests (like doctor friends) with immunizations.
2. Adopt a family and buy their Christmas gifts for their family through Nashville Child Advocacy Center or St. Luke’s Community Center. This is great for getting kids involved. We’ve done this the last several years and it is the first thing in years that gives me the same sense of exhilaration that I had as a kid getting a bike for Christmas. They tell you ages of kids and some of their interests and you can go to town.
When I give time, I like to focus on programs where there are one-to-one opportunities to make a difference. The two organizations I serve are the Nashville Adult Literacy Council and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee. Both groups provide one-to-one mentoring to make a difference in the lives of those who are being served (adult learners who need help with their most basic literacy skills in the case of the NALC and kids who need a caring adult mentor in the Case of BBBS).
Carrie Wakeford: I donate to the Nashville Rescue Mission. Very little money provides Thanksgiving dinner to many who otherwise would not get any.
Shannon McRae: I recently heard that Portland, Ore., (where the West Coast Hammock office is located) has more nonprofits per capita than any other city in the country. That makes it pretty easy to find some group that needs your help. My favorite one so far has been the food pantry at our church, Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. Meeting the people who come for food bags is a good reminder that they’re human, too — just not near as lucky as I am.
Though it’s not in my neighborhood, I never want to miss a chance to plug my favorite nonprofit — the Africa Foundation, a conservation group that also works to help the people who live in villages near protected areas in South Africa. My brother worked for the organization for a couple of years, and I got a chance to see the amazing things they do for people and animals when I visited there exactly two years ago this week. Distance doesn’t allow me to give anything more than money, but it’s nice to know that my tiny little bit helps do things like build schools, buy medicines and transport water to people in great need.
www.trinity-episcopal.org/sections/Outreach/Food.htm
www.africafoundation.org/about/default.php
Lena Basha: For the second year in a row, I’m running in the Boulevard Bolt (www.thebolt.org) on Thanksgiving morning. It’s a five-mile race/fund-raiser for the homeless. I think it’s important to think of all the people on Thanksgiving who are much less fortunate than you. And on a more personal level, it makes me feel like less of a pig later that day when I’m on my third piece of pumpkin pie.
Summer Huggins: Each year on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, one of our local pottery galleries participates in the annual Empty Bowl Project. For your donation of $15, you can pick out a hand-crafted bowl from dozens of local artists. Your bowl is then washed, dried and prepared to be filled with soup from one of dozens of local restaurants who donate their recipes and time. You then sit down outside with your new bowl full of warm soup and listen to some live local music. I heard this year that each bowl purchased provided 75 meals through the Capital Area Food Bank in Austin (Hammock’s southern-most office). www.austinfoodbank.org
I also can’t pass up the Salvation Army Angel Tree every year. With no kids of our own, it’s fun to have a reason to buy cute little clothes and fun toys for a child in the community who really might receive otherwise.

Wherever you are across the country, no matter how much a statement from the bank says you have in your account, there are ways to give back to your community — during the holiday season and throughout the year. It might just turn out to be the best gift you ever received.

Hammock Publishing’s Bill Hudgins had a tremendous Veteran’s Day weekend. As editor of Semper Fi: The Magazine of the Marine Corps League, Bill attended weekend ceremonies dedicating the new National Museum of the Marine Corps.
Here is Bill’s field report:
The congressionally chartered League was founded by Gen. Lejeune more than 60 years ago to help the Corps carry out its promise that ﾒonce a Marine, always a Marine.ﾓ The museum has been a dream for many years, as a permanent home for the Corpsﾕ treasures, mementoes and legacy. The League has been instrumental in furthering this dream and bringing it to fruition.
Nov. 10, 2006, marked the 231st birthday of the Marine Corps, and the day was filled with Marines old and young and their friends and family wishing each other Happy Birthday. The day is celebrated worldwide – Marines are stationed in more than 140 countries – and the celebrations often include a cake, cut with a Marine Mameluke sword.
We started the day by going to the wreath-laying ceremony at the Marine Corps National Memorial in Arlington, the statue based closely on the iconic photo by the late Joe Rosenthal of the flag raising on Iwo Jima in WWII. After days of rain, Northern Virginia shook the drops off her shoulders and stood to attention with crystal blue skies. The rain had cleaned the air and shined the fall foliage which gleamed scarlet and gold around the Memorial – an appropriate color choice as these are the colors of the Corps.
People started assembling a couple hours before the 10 a.m. ceremony, and we could hear in the distance riflemen practicing their salute, and Marine band drummers warming up. The crowd was a blend of League members in scarlet jackets and windbreakers, 50 or so Arizona veterans who had come clad in patch-bedecked vests or leathers, some biker vets from who knows where, VIPs in expensive suits and Marines in dress blues, with enough brass to keep 100 polishers up all night.
The ceremony began as the Presidentﾕs Own Marine Band marched in and played several tunes by their most famous leader, John Philip Sousa. (Thomas Jefferson bestowed the name on this band.) Three platoons from Washingtonﾕs Marine Barracks at 8th and I streets marched out – they did not perform their world-famous drill, sadly, but formed an honor guard. The Commandantﾕs Own Band – the drum and bugle corps – joined the field and played during a number of maneuvers, including the presentation of the colors.
The keynote speaker of the day was Virginia Sen. John Warner, himself a Marine. He talked about his experiences in the Marines, including a funny anecdote about being given the task of moving a half-size model of the Memorial to the main gate at Quantico, where it is today. The then-commandant of the Marine Corps warned the young lieutenant that there had better be no damage to the model. ﾒThe mission was accomplished,ﾓ the senator said, then added that as chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, he had recently succeeded in approving funds to repair the cracks that had formed in the model during that move more than 30 years ago.
On a more serious and political note, Warner revealed that his recent comment that the situation in Iraq was ﾒdrifting sidewaysﾓ was a quote from a young Marine he had met during a trip to see the situation first-hand. And, that as the senior senator from Virginia, he was looking forward to working with the new junior senator, James Webb, who had been Warnerﾕs aide years ago in the Marines.
The ceremony completed, we hustled south toward Quantico, Va., the mother base of the Corps. Traffic crawled periodically as normally lead-footed drivers panicked at the site of dozens of Virginia state troopers and other police. The bears werenﾕt hunting speeders this day – they were were to secure the area in anticipation of the arrival of President Bush as the keynote speaker at the museum opening. Our late start almost cost us the opportunity to see the event – we pulled up to Lejeune Hall at Quantico (familiar to those who have seen the old TV series ﾒMajor Dadﾓ) just as they were closing the doors on the last bus to the museum.
Maybe 10,000 or more people had arrived before us. The League had seats fairly close to the front, and in my dark suit I — neither a Marine nor a veteran — felt somewhat out of place as I followed the scarlet jackets through the throng. As we sat down, my jaw dropped to see four or five Navajo Code Talkers in front of us with a small group of Young Marines, a youth group sponsored by the League. Sixty years ago, these Native Americans came off their reservation to help the nation that had so mistreated them and their ancestors to win a war, by using their unique language in a code that was never broken.
It was a place filled with heroes. Survivors of Iwo Jima, Tarawa, Peleiu, the Chosin Reservoir, Khe Sanh, Beirut, Fallujah and dozens of other battles. Recipients of the Medal of Honor and Navy Cross (Note: No one wins a medal and most certainly not these. They are awarded, received, earned – not infrequently, posthumously.) They were here because as young men and women, they had chosen to test themselves to a point beyond the reach of many of us, in order to earn the right to be called Marines. Thereﾕs an old saying that you canﾕt choose your family, but the thousands of Marines there would say otherwise. They werenﾕt coming to a museum opening – they were coming home.
The crowd began to applaud as Air Force One and its decoy twins thundered in overhead. Giant TV screens broadcast the entry of the Marine brass and other dignitaries, guest speaker Jim Lehrer and finally, striding in alone from the museum to the dais in front, President Bush.
The ceremony included a display of the different flags carried by the Corps over more than two centuries, borne by Marines dressed in period uniforms. Four FA-18 Hornet jet fighters roared past overhead. Lehrerﾕs recollections of his time as a Marine were punctuated by calls of ﾒOORAHﾓ as fellow Marines enthusiastically agreed.
One of the most moving moments of the day was hearing the announcement that a Medal of Honor will be awarded posthumously to Cpl. Jason Dunham, who died in Iraq in April 2004. The Wall Street Journalﾕs Michael Phillips details the award. Phillips first wrote about Dunham in a Wall Street Journal article in 2004 and in his book, The Gift of Valor. When an attacker dropped a grenade threatening the patrol he was leading, Dunham hurled himself on top of it, using his helmet to try to blunt the force of the blast. From the injuries he sustained from the blast, he died eight days later. According to his fellow Marines, Dunham had extended his enlistment shortly before he died so he could help his comrades.
The final event of the day was the Leagueﾕs first-ever National Marine Corps League Marine Birthday Ball, held at a hotel in Falls Church. With a color guard from Quantico, a big cake sliced by a gleaming sword – the tradition is that the first piece is shared by the oldest and youngest Marines present, which in this case was an 80-plus Iwo veteran and a 19-year-old private. And who knew – Marines can dance!
The museum opened to the public Nov. 13. It is absolutely worth the effort to get there if you are in the area, because once youﾕve been through, you will have some inkling of what it takes to be a Marine.

When you are 231 years old like the U.S. Marine Corps, youﾕve got a lot of history, memories, traditions, legends and keepsakes that youﾕd like to shareﾑbut where to put them all? Sometimes, you need a bigger home. On Nov. 10, the USMC opened its breathtaking new homeﾑthe National Museum of the Marine Corps at Quantico, Va., where the Corps invites visitors to ﾒEnter and Experience What It Means to Be a Marine.ﾓ
The November-December 2006 issue of Semper Fi, the Magazine of the Marine Corps League, which we publish for the League, previews just a few features of the Corpsﾕ new ﾒhome.ﾓ From storied weaponry to beloved aircraft to quiet paths where visitors can reflect on valor, courage and sacrifice, the new museum helps the non-Marine begin to understand Semper Fi: Always Faithful.
The museumﾕs design echoes the immortal photo of five Marines and a Navy Corpsman raising a flag over Iwo Jima in World War II. Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal passed away this summer, and Semper Fi remembers him and the world-famous moment he captured atop Mount Suribachi.
Elsewhere in this issue, which coincides with the Corps’ 231st birthday on Nov. 10, we include a number of League membersﾕ memories of holidays spent in the service of their country. We also report on the Leagueﾕs annual Modern Day Marine Expo trade show at Quantico, where Marines and those who supply them come together to review the latest gear and, more important, learn how to make it better. Future issues of Semper Fi will examine some of these materials in more detail, and how Marines put them into use.

If you’ve been around here more than just a few minutes, you’ve probably picked up on the fact that Rex Hammock, our president, not only is a blogging evangelist, but he’s also become pretty well known in the blogging and marketing communities for his views on magazines, marketing, social media, branding and — well — we can admit it — Titans football. While sports didn’t come up in Rex’s recent interview with Monica Powers, we think you’ll be interested in his comments on the other topics.
Powers, a Nashville-based marketing and strategy consultant, talked with Rex recently about how Hammock Publishing helps our clients develop better relationships with their customers and members, how blogging has changed our business, and Rex’s dream client. (Don’t be alarmed if you’re a client reading this right now — Rex pointed out, this is a client with a “dream” of a problem that we could help to solve. We all know we work with the best clients out there already!)