For the fifth consecutive year, American Spirit, the magazine we publish for the Daughters of the American Revolution, has been honored with a Grand Award of Excellence from the APEX Awards organization. In making the award, the judges commented: ﾒSpectacular photo spreads, beautifully written, compelling stories, and appealing use of spot color, sidebars and functional captionsﾑall contribute to an enjoyable, absorbing read. Stuck in an elevator? This is the one you want.ﾓ We, of course, recommend reading American Spirit anywhere, especially in locations more comfortable than an elevator; still, the judges’ comments definitely “lifted” our spirits. Seriously, it has been a distinct honor to be afforded the chance to work with DAR and help carry out its programs of preservation, patriotism and education, and we look forward to each issue with great enthusiasm.

Among the intense debate over the war in Iraq, one salient point is agreed upon by nearly all sides: Troops need more protection from roadside explosive devices. Help is on the way, in the shape of heavily armored, specially constructed MRAP – Mine Resistant Ambush Protected – vehicles, which will replace many of the Humvees now in use for patrol. The Marine Corps is selecting several companies to rush-produce MRAPs and get them into the field to protect the troops. This issue of Semper Fi, the Magazine of the Marine Corps League, which we publish for the Marine Corps League, reports on the vehicles under consideration and how they work.
Also in this issue, Semper Fi commemorates Camp Pendleton’s 65th anniversary as a Marine Corps base by looking at its colorful history as a Spanish-owned rancho that covered more than a quarter-million acres. As in every issue, Semper Fi also reports on the activities of the Marine Corps League in supporting the elite fighting force and its veterans.

From Sea to Shining Sea, it’s summertime in America, and even with new mid-year series and episodes on cable, there’s only so much TV you can watch. Instead of working on your monitor tan, check out the July/August issue of Ride Personal Watercraft Magazine, which we publish for the the American Watercraft Association for some ideas on how to cure your summertime blues.
Ride visits a couple of kick-back spots, that welcome PWC. Lake Norris in East Tennessee is a deep, clean lake formed behind a TVA dam, offering not just house boats, but floating houses for visitors to rent. Just toodle up in your PWC, tie off and step into your kitchen for a snack. Or, roll out of bed and onto your craft for an early morning ride.
For the more adveturous, join a group of somersaulting, high-flying riders who gather annually in Georgia – this year at Lake Allatoona – for three days of trick riding and festivities.
For those living on the ocean, tag along on a sojurn out from Southern California to Catalina Island – just remember that the ocean can change fast!
This issue of Ride also includes a visit with the “Dean of the PWC Nation,” John Donaldson. A longtime rider, industry executive and now member of Kawasaki’s PR agency, John has forgotten more about PWC than most of us will ever learn. And he spends every day fighting the good fight to secure your riding privileges.
Also, each issue of Ride also features great places to take your PWC, new products for the water sports fan and information on PWC racing.

Summertime just isnﾕt complete without a road trip. Nothing spells freedom like driving down a winding country road on a sunny afternoon with your windows rolled down, your radio cranked up and a cool breeze and clear sky ahead. In the July/August issue of American Spirit, the magazine we publish for the Daughters of the American Revolution, our resident road warrior Bill Hudgins reveals that early Americans, too, shared this fascination with the open road. Our story, ﾒAmericaﾕs Main Street: The Historic National Road,ﾓ explores the history behind the nationﾕs first federally funded Interstate highway and explains how its construction paved the way for the America that we know today.
We hit the road to Indianapolis in our Spirited Adventures feature for a stop at Conner Prairie, a living history museum where interpreters make it their mission to transport visitors back to Indiana pioneer life, circa 1836. If youﾕre hankering for historical travel with dose of authenticity, youﾕll want to visit. We also check out a series of upcoming cross-country events celebrating the 250th birthday of the Marquis de Lafayette, the Frenchman who endeared himself to early Americans during the Revolution by helping them secure their independence.
On an adventure of another kind, we track advances in online genealogy, which allow you to trace your roots from the comfort of your computerﾑwithout traveling to out-of-the-way courthouses and digging through musty stacks of documents. Discover how these sites make it easy to research your lineage and connect with long-lost relatives without ever leaving home.
Wherever the road takes you this summerﾑwhether it be one of the beaches along our nationﾕs coasts, a historic hideaway or a spot for family funﾑhappy travels!

Here at Hammock the typical business day is anything but typical, especially around deadline time. As a small business ourselves, we felt some kinship when compared to the hectic days of the small-business owners we shadowed for our ﾒDay in the Life of a Small-Business Ownerﾓ feature in the June/July 2007 issue of MyBusiness. The sheer energy and dedication exhibited by Caroline Geishecker and Mike Mitternight as they rise before the sun and work well into the night in order to ensure that their businesses run smoothly is exhausting even to read about.
But even long days at a tireless pace wonﾕt eliminate bumps in the small-business road. Issues like health care and tax relief can throw even the most committed entrepreneur for a loop. We asked five small-business owners how they confront the burdens of business ownership in the ﾒHandle the Headachesﾓ featureﾑbecause we believe there’s no better avenue for advice than real people dealing with real challenges.
When including state political and legislative news inside MyBusiness became one of NFIBﾕs strategic goals, we worked together to make it happen with the June/July issue. For the first time, this issue featured 51 versions, one for each state (and don’t forget Washington, D.C.). Just another (long) day at the office!

Almost as easy to use as just hopping in the car and going, personal watercraft are perfect for family recreation and impromptu weekend getaways. Today’s four-stroke engined PWC are far cleaner and quieter than earlier models, and easily carry two or three riders, as well as gear.
The May/June issue of Ride Personal Watercraft Magazine, which we publish for the the American Watercraft Association visits a Hawaiian enthusiast who combines his lifelong love of fishing with his passion for Yamaha watercraft–with startling results. Speaking of things that live in the water, we also meet a dolphin whose tail was injured by disease but, thanks to Bridgestone, now has a prosthetic tail and can swim and leap for joy.
We also travel far from the ocean to Americaﾕs Heartland, to see where Kawasaki builds its Jet Skis, in Lincoln, Neb. While winter snows swirl outside in the prairie wind, employees inside are crafting years of warm-weather fun. As a bonus, we peek inside Kawasakiﾕs new musclecraft, the 250-hp Ultra 250.
PWC have a serious side as well as their fun-loving personality. None other than the United States Marines use them to provide safety during offshore maneuvers. We go aboard Camp Pendleton, Calif. (one goes aboard a Marine base, just as one goes aboard a ship) to see Marines being trained to operate PWC in the surf in case their comrades need a lift.
Each issue of Ride also features great places to take your PWC, new products for the water sports fan and information on PWC racing.

An invisible enemy stalks battlefields and follows a number of warriors home after war’s end. At varying levels, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) afflicts an unknown but substantial number of veterans, as well as active duty troops. This issue of Semper Fi, the Magazine of the Marine Corps League, which we publish for the Marine Corps League, examines how PTSD has long remained shadowy and difficult to diagnose because its sufferers did not want to be perceived as “weak” or unfit for duty. The condition is emerging from the shadows as the Marine Corps and the other services work to change the cultures that have encouraged silence. At the same time, the Veterans Administration confronts a rapidly growing challenge to identify, diagnose and treat growing numbers of troops seeking help for psychological aftereffects of battle.
On a lighter note, Marine Corps chow has improved mightily since the days of WWII C-rations. While far from Mom’s kitchen, mess halls and field food services strive to sling more than hash and SOS for hungry Marines. Some Marine Corps League members also recall how they used USMC initiative and, um, reconnaissance skills to rustle up some unexpected treats.
Also in this issue, Semper Fi salutes the contributions of Women Marines, whose roles have expanded from mainly clerical and administrative to equal partners with their male comrades. We celebrate the life and career of one Woman Marine who is still involved with the Corpsﾑin her 90s!

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.

This weekend John Lavey and I both participated in the Country Music 1/2 Marathon, which, combined with the full marathon, brought 32,000 people to Nashville this weekend. From my location at the start line (about 20,000 people back), I could see Hammock Publishing headquarters, and for a split second considered just coming up here and watching it on television. But you see, spending almost four months bragging about how you’re running 13.1 miles at the end of April pretty much precludes you from chickening out. That, and fellow Hammorati Barbara Greenfield and Allison Lund were camped out at miles 3 and 6 respectively to cheer us on. I couldn’t let them down. Thanks guys!
John finished in 1:38:46, and I crossed the finish line right behind him (or some 9,500 people behind him) in 2:27:05.
In addition to running it for himself, John ran with Team Rio, benefitting Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee, which, with a little help from Hammock Publishing’s corporate sponsorship, raised more than $100,000 this weekend.
In the Monday morning meeting, Rex suggested we put together a Team Hammock for next year. Kerri Davis, who walks every morning before work, offered to coach the speed-walkers, and Barbara Mathieson said to count her in for the running team, even if she has to use a cane to cross the finish line. And Julia Boklage is already planning the Hammock cheering station.
It’s 363 days away, but I think I can already tell that next year’s race is going to be the best one yet.

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.