The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution has published a member magazine in several different forms since July 1892. At that time, DAR had only recently started its work as a patriotic women’s organization, dedicated to its three guiding tenets of education, historic preservation and patriotism. As an internal publication, the magazine was sufficient for the membership, but generally did not reach out to communities not yet touched by the DAR.
In 2001, some 109 years after its inception, the DAR magazine underwent a radical transformation. The magazine was split into two separate publications: Daughters newsletter, which focused on NSDAR news and notices; and American Spirit, a 52-page glossy, bimonthly full-color publication.
Hammock Inc. was hired to produce American Spirit in July 2002. One of the first things Hammock’s editorial and design team did was try to define the audience and the mission for the magazine. One thing we all agreed on—American Spirit should be the kind of magazine you’d want to leave out on your coffee table. The design should rival any commercial magazine, the articles should be intriguing and informative, and the writing should be fresh and vibrant.
Since the revamped American Spirit was intended to reach out to potential new members, we had to make some assumptions there—concluding that this group would likely be younger, with careers or families or both, and were probably accustomed to brightly designed magazines with a variety of topics.
Originally, American Spirit’s editorial lineup called for articles on women’s health and financial affairs. The more we talked with members, the more we felt readers could, and should, go elsewhere for that information, to magazines that exist to focus on those topics. American Spirit should focus instead on the National Society’s core concerns: history—especially women in history—genealogy, education, patriotism and preservation.
More than focusing on the details of long-ago battles, the magazine strives to tell the American story through the women and men who lived this history. Beyond Revolutionary history, American Spirit shows the human side of American life from Colonial times to the present, with articles ranging from features on historic homes, collectibles and Americana to regular articles on historic travel, timeless crafts and preserving family history.
In the past few years, we have changed the editorial mix in response to reader feedback. Under the current DAR National Magazine Chair, Denise Doring VanBuren, we have increased the focus on DAR goals of education, patriotism and preservation. We have also added more articles about individual members and the DAR itself, including departments such as:
And Hammock is always searching for even more creative ways to reach the dedicated members of the DAR, and spotlight the myriad ways they enhance their communities and their country.
Until 2003, the American Watercraft Association published a magazine known as Jet Sports. Professional watercraft racing enjoyed a boom in the early 1990s, and racing provided much of the content. By the end of the 1990s and early into the 21st century, racing had considerably diminished. PWC had come under attack from environmentalists, and the downturn in the national economy exacerbated a drop in sales.
AWA asked Hammock Inc. to redesign and relaunch the magazine from stem to stern. The design was dated, the photography and production values mediocre, and the magazine said little about recreational riding.
This sport is about fun, Hammock’s writers and designers said, so let’s make it look like that. Also, PWC can be used for touring, fishing, snorkeling and diving, even scientific research (and delivering pizzas, we learned later), so let’s talk about that. And let’s give it a new name that embraces all these things—why not just call it Ride PWC Magazine? It’s a noun and a verb, and a command as well—go out and Ride!
Drawing upon surfing and boating magazines for inspiration, yet recognizing that our readers ranged from 20-somethings to 80-plus, we designed a publication that looks like it’s at full throttle there on the coffee table, with clean lines and a shipshape distinction between departments, features and association news.
We applied nautical terms, such as “Waterfront,” “ShipShape” and “Wavelength,” to departments and gave them a distinctive black frame to set them off from features. Editorially, we mapped out five primary uses for PWC—family togetherness, performance, racing, escape and utility—and through the course of a year, we plot coverage of each of those areas.
Since relaunching the magazine, we have added a section for first responders who use PWC in rescues. We’ve also added profiles of corporate and dealer sponsors of AWA, whose support enables the association to continue its mission.
Over the weekend of 9-11 November, five members of our production team for Semper Fi, The Magazine of the Marine Corps League, went to Washington, DC, to participate in celebrating the U.S. Marine Corps 232 Birthday and also the annual remembrance ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
Our group – John Lavey, Patrick Burns, Kerri Davis, Carrie Wakeford and Bill Hudgins – first went to the Marine War Memorial in Arlington, often called the Iwo Jima Memorial because it commemorates the raising of an American flag on Mt. Suribachi during the desperate struggle for the tiny island.
We spent part of Saturday afternoon at the year-old National Museum of the Marine Corps, discovering that the riches it holds take far longer than a couple of hours to see, even for the fleetest footed visitor.
Saturday night, we joined our client, the Marine Corps League, at its 2nd annual Birthday Ball. At both the museum and at the ball, Marine tradition was observed as a Marine sliced the birthday cake with a Marmeluke saber and handed the first piece to the oldest Marine present. That Marine took a bite, then handed to the youngestﾑthe passing of tradition and duty from old to new.
Sunday morning, crisp, clear and mild, we joined thousands at Arlington National Cemetery to honor the 48 million American veterans who, starting with the American Revolution, offered all, including their lives, to protect the nation. More than 310,000 of those veterans are buried at Arlington. The Marine Corps League was this year’s host veterans’ group for the national observance, and its commandant, Jack Ryan, was joined at the dais by Vice President Cheney after the vice president laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.
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.
In 1977, actor Roger Moore as the redoubtable James Bond made a kind of film history by riding a “wetbike” – an early type of personal watercraft – which at the time was a novel and not well known craft. As Bond films often have done, the movies helped fan the tiny spark of this little known craft into a fad and then into the racing and recreational industry that surrounds today’s PWC.
Hammock Publishing makes its own contribution to PWCing by publishing Ride PWC Magazine for the American Watercraft Association (www.awahq.org). The current issue of Ride (Nov-Dec 2006) showcases the new 2007 models and shows how far they have some since Bond’s bouncy little ‘bike. Today’s models can carry up to three people, have stock engines packing as much as 250 hp., and even carry satellite radio and GPS units so M will always know where you are. You can choose sitdown models, which are by far the best-selling models, or standup versions that have long been popular with racers and freestyle riders who execute amazing leaps and bounds.
In addition to the new model review, this issue reports on the results of the 25th annual World Finals at Lake Havasu, Ariz., and on other racing venues. We also meet a couple from West Tennessee who fell in love aboard a jetski – after each had retired! – amd ride along with AWA members from Lake Superior to Wet – sorry, West – Virginia to Old Mexico.
Also, AWA Executive Director Chris Manthos outlines the challenges facing watercraft enthusiasts who want only to be treated equally with other power boaters, and not discriminated against because they ride small, nimble craft.
As always, the AWA stresses safe and responsible riding in every issue of Ride. Had it been around in 1977, AWA would have strenuously objected to Bond’s riding a PWC without a personal flotation device. Good heavens, 007, that kind of thing is dangerous! (Of course, knowing Bond, his PFD would have come equipped with martini makings and a blonde.)
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.
How can you promote a banquetﾕs theme through its menu? What are guidelines for serving wine at an event? How can you set up a buffet to limit consumption during a cocktail reception?
Find those answers and more event planning strategies in the hot-off-the-presses Experient Guide to the Food and Beverage Experience, sponsored by Hilton Hotels and published by Hammock. Enhanced by dozens of photos of delectable food and festive events, the 64-page resource draws on the considerable food and beverage expertise of both Experient, an integrated meeting and event planning firm, and Hilton Hotels. Featuring an introduction by Emeril Lagasse, the Guide gives best practices for everything from menu planning and negotiation to decor and serviceﾑall with the goal of making events more authentic, enjoyable and memorable. Go to Experient’s Solution Center to download a pdf.
The Guide is Hammockﾕs second collaboration with Experient, a leading industry resource for full-service, customized registration, housing, event management and lead retrieval services. This year Experient will serve more than 2,800 events attended by 3.2 million people who will occupy and drive purchasing of more than 4.2 million hotel room nights.
The Daughters of the American Revolution has long had ties to Ellis Island, so it was fitting that present and past shots of the immigration station graced the cover of the November/December American Spirit, the magazine Hammock publishes for the National Society. DAR members were there helping immigrants when Ellis Island served as a bustling processing station, and it was there when the island was in dire need of a restoration, donating more than $250,000 to the effort. Hammock’s own Lena Basha tells the stories of today’s genealogists who are using the current resources of Ellis Island to connect with their ancestors who passed through the gateway more than a century ago.
To subscribe to American Spirit–and to read a Veterans’ Day-themed salute to a DAR member and her three daughters who all serve in the United States Army–go to the magazine’s online site.
Hammock’s Editorial Director Bill Hudgins and Managing Partner John Lavey recently spent several days embedded with the US Marine Corps at its sprawling base in Quantico, VA. John and Bill attended the 26th Annual Modern Day Marine Expo sponsored by Hammock Publishing client, the Marine Corps League, for whom we produce the bimonthly Semper Fi, The Magazine of the Marine Corps Leagueｪ.
The three-day expo is one of three the League sponsors annually to bring together established and emerging suppliers of military goods, ranging from socks to aircraft, with Marines and military procurement personnel, to see whatﾕs new, what works and what could work. The Expos are also attended by invited military guests from other countries,and by everyday Marines and, often, their families.
With more than 300 exhibitors ranging from giants such as Lockheed-Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics and Raytheon down to tiny businesses such as Gunzilla (which makes a gun cleaning kit), itﾕs impossible to give a detailed account of the kinds of things we saw.
But there were some themesﾑﾒdefeatingﾓ roadside bombs from destroying vehicles and killing coalition soldiers was a big one. Devices to detect traces of explosives and gunpowder on suspected insurgents and terrorists were another. Electronics such as sophisticated battlefield optics systems, hardened servers, training software and simulators were another.
At the other end of the spectrum were things like T-shirts designed to help warfighters stay comfortably dry and warm or cool depending on the weather. Some were made with yarns that contained silver fiberﾑand could soon be imprinted with integrated circuitry so troops would literally wear their radios and other electronic gear.
Again and again, vendors told us that they had been working with the Corps to develop a needed item, often going back to the drawing board multiple times to get it right. And they heard plenty from the troops who inspected their wares, and who have an immediate and intensely personal reason to want them to work right first time, every time.
But beyond the geewhiz technology and the deadly serious purpose of the products on display, we witnessed first-hand the incredible bond that being a Marine forges among those who have worn the uniform. Two Marines who meet as strangers instantly acknowledge each other as brotherﾑor, increasingly, as sister. The bond transcends age, race, religion, political affiliation. This is a large part of the reason that the Marine Corps League existsﾑto help reunite members of this unique family, and put their talents and their loyalty to continued service to their nation and each other.