Shortcuts Never Work

A Lesson in Planning (the other kind of planning)

2012-01-24T05:03:00.000-08:00

I am a planner by title. In the ad world that just means strategist; however, outside of the industry people relate "planner" with the thought of coordinating schedules and putting on events. I'm then left to explain that I'm no where close to that kind of planner and that if tasked with that kind of responsibility I would most likely crumble in a fit of anxiety and die.

Okay, so this isn't exactly true. I'm actually good at managing projects and coordinating things and putting on events. It's just not my favorite thing to do. I much prefer having the freedom to collaborate with teams openly and think freely (hippie), and I find that it's far less stressful. Regardless of all of this, I've got to say, I do love a good committee. It's in my blood. Throughout both my high school and college days I was that annoying-over-achiever-kid, completely and utterly too involved.

It's been a while since I was on any kind of a committee...

Word recently got out that we needed to form a holiday party committee at work and I jumped at the offer. Going into the experience bright-eyed and eager, I was quickly taken aback. While I work in Holland at an international agency, there is one culture I've had very little experience integrating with on a professional level. Over the last year I've learned to adapt to multitude of different cultures and I've really grown through this experience. Unfortunately the one culture I haven't had too much pressure to adapt to has actually been the Dutch. Sounds strange, huh?

And so our committee was formed and we were three expats and three Dutchies and for the most part everything went great... Until things started to become lost in translation. When this happened, our Dutch counterparts would begin speaking Nederlands and clarity would go back and forth skipping over each half the group. Nederlands is an interesting language too. Sometimes when people speak Nederlands, there is an element of "politeness" that simply doesn't translate.

For example if you were at the market and wanted to know how much something cost, in English you might say, "Excuse me sir, can you please tell me how much this is?" or shortened you would say, "Hello, how much is this?" In Nederlands you would simply say, "Kosta?!" There are good things to be said for this kind of directness. For one, it's efficient and you don't waste anytime worrying whether or not you've insulted someone with too much or too little "fluff." It's just that if you're not used to it, bursts into Nederlands can sound a bit like unintentional shouting. And I'm sure bursts in English sound like long pointless chit-chat.

This was then followed by the frustration the Dutch had with the expats. It was clear that we weren't used to the everyone-has-an-equal-say-in-everything form of discussion and decision making. I quickly learned that in my mind, when something needs to be decided, I assume that responsibility to whomever is in charge of it in a majority-rules-but-in-the-end-you-just-decide fashion. I also learned that this comes comes across as inconsiderate and rude.

Somedays I would leave our meetings excited for party, other days I was completely frustrated and yanking my hair out. In the end, I'm glad I've had this cross-cultural lesson in coordination and planning. What I've learned the most from working abroad and this particular experience is that in order to hold up a mirror and really see yourself for who you are, you need to/have to work with people from different cultures.

When I talk to people about Amsterdam, I sometimes refer to it as an "international starter city" meaning that the Dutch are so welcoming and tolerant that you can move here, refuse to learn their language and in return they'll speak to you in beautiful English. They are willing to put up with us and I'm glad. I wouldn't learn enough about myself without this experience and I'm afraid I wouldn't have grown as much as I have over this last year without them. So to all of my Dutch friends, colleagues, and neighbors, thank you!

Oh, by the way, the party turned out AMAZING. Shows what you can accomplish when you come together. Here are some stills thrown into a video for your viewing pleasure:

Junior Strategy

2011-12-31T06:33:00.000-08:00

December has almost come and gone and I haven't posted once, but I have been busy working on a new project: Junior Strategy.

The project is off to a great start and already we've had a lot of support from all over the world with people offering to capture interviews for us all the way from LA to NYC to Sydney. Our goal is simple, to inspire and grow the junior community the same way a good mentor would and we're really excited to see how it all evolves in 2012.

Happy New Year everyone!

It's that time of year again!

2011-11-29T03:33:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving from Amsterdam!

Cross-Continental Collaboration: A New Experiment

2011-11-01T06:56:00.000-07:00

I am interested in how we (humans) can become better collaborators with the challenge of time and space between us. Companies are dealing with this more and more, yet even young digital entrepreneurs like JESS3 have begun settling down into offices. How much do we sacrifice with time and space as a factor and how much can we actually gain from it? As resources become more scarce and as we grow into an even more complex global economy, we're already seeing the effects and changes in work habits and expectations.

Creatively, I've been really inspired by crowd-sourced projects.

Life in a Day:

"Life In A Day is a historic film capturing for future generations what it was like to be alive on the 24th of July, 2010."

5050.gd

50/50 is not only for a great cause, but it's one of the few projects I've seen out there that has really been able to adapt the kickstarter platform by making it their own.

My friend Julia lives in Seattle. Since my last post, we've been talking about projects that we can do together, so we've decided to start a cross-continent collaboration as a way to explore creativity through digital.

We'll be communicating through the form of a blog, but we'll experiment with the kinds of tasks or assignments each of us will do.

Watch this space!

One Year in the Dam + Improv Sundays

2011-10-17T12:38:00.000-07:00

I've just passed my one year anniversary of living in the Dam and with the passing year I've found myself in a reflective mood. I've definitely grown in a lot of ways: I've met and learned from people from all over the world, I've travelled more regularly this year than ever before, I've stretched my world view and pushed myself professionally.

And while all of this is great, at some point over the last year I've still managed to bore myself. I am doing all of these great things, but I can't help but think that I used to be so much more interesting: I noticed that I stopped reading for leisure, I stopped creating things outside of keynote and powerpoint, I stopped writing and posting in my blog, I stopped creating idea books.

I kind of stopped doing a lot of the things that make me me.

Working in a creative industry can take a lot out of you during the day, but the only way I know how to stay creative at work is to exercise creativity outside of work. So with the passing year, I've decided to change some things up and set some personal goals.

Some of which include:

-reading books outside of work

-getting back into my idea books

-experimenting with analog (adj.) activities

-watching way less TV

-dramatically cutting social networking back

-becoming a student again by taking some classes

-more "fieldwork" (this is a post for another day)

I think if I stick to these goals, I'll have a lot more to post about. Overall, last year was about settling in and figuring stuff out. This year is about productivity and being generally awesome.

I'm starting with this poster. It's a nice reminder to welcome the unknown. For a long time I've quoted Jelly Helm's "Always say yes" philosophy:

Always say yes: “What I’ve learned from improvisation is to let go of outcome and just say yes to whatever the situation is. If you say an idea is bad, you’re creating conflict—you’re breaking an improv rule. You want an energy flow that moves you forward, as opposed to a creative stasis.”

The last time I took an improv class was high school; however, back in college I was a nanny and improvisation was part of my job description. Officially joining the real allowed me the excuse to let that place in my imagination go.

Sunday I decided to attend a drop-in improv class. Initially I wanted to go as a way to improve my presentation skills, but I was quickly reminded of Jelly's "always say yes" philosophy. The class challenged me to think openly and on the spot and was a great reminder of how the creative process can go.

I'm definitely going back, and often.

In other Sunday news...
After improv my friends and I went to Vondelpark and caught the end of the Amsterdam Marathon where we encountered this guy:

He took it upon himself to personally cheer every runner on as they passed (in Dutch, English and Italian!). The entry numbers attached to the runners' shirts had their names, which made his effort even more impressive. The video I took really doesn't do this guy justice. I couldn't help but think that maybe cheering strangers on at marathons was just this was just this guy's "thing". I quite like thinking about that. In the spirit of improv, he inspired us to join him and we clapped until our hands hurt.

Juice Fast Update #2

2011-08-22T10:46:00.000-07:00

This will be my last juice fast update because... JUICE FAST IS FINITO!

Today started off great. I made a delicious fruit juice.

At lunch I rode home and I really enjoyed that. It was so nice to come home in the middle of the day. I might do that more often.

While the juice I drank for lunch was really good, by this afternoon even the thought of drinking another juice was making me gag. And the last thing I want to do is taint the new juicer with negative energy or bad memories.

So instead, I've come up with a better solution. Use the juicer often. Never put it away. Juicer now lives on the counter and I'm going to incorporate more fresh pressed juices (especially vegetable juices) in my life. I really do feel better physically and in just 4 days my eczema is doing much better. Raw micronutrients are definitely something I can afford to have a lot more of.

I cannot however drink juice for all of my meals, not even for ten or seven days. It's just too hard. I miss the independent flavors of those delicious foods. I can't begin to describe how much I looked forward to my salad this evening. And everything in it was raw except for the tablespoon of walnut oil and soy sauce that I used for the dressing (that was for the whole salad for two people mind you). For me, liking vegetables has never been the problem, it's just keeping them at the core of my diet.

This 4 day fast has taught me a lot. For the first time I was mentally aware of how much I snack and how often I give into mental cravings vs. physical cravings. I learned a lot more about vegetables and all of their magical powers. And it's been fun to see how long I could last.

So, if I must say so myself, it was a really nice effort. Here's to health and nutrition. Maybe I'll try again, but not any time soon :)

Juice Fast Update #1

2011-08-21T13:23:00.000-07:00

Juice fast is not fun. It's hard. Really hard. I'm not actually hungry, that's not the hard part. I feel full, I even have energy and far more energy than I expected to have the first few days. I'm just already really sick of juice. All I can think about is bread. I'm learning that I crave bread way more than I crave cheese. Last night I dreamt that I ate pizza and threw the whole thing off.

Work Friday wasn't too bad. I did think about eating delicious buttery toast all day. Not going out to lunch was kind of a draw back, but walking to get a few juices were nice breaks in the day. At night I stayed in. Which, if you know me, I really like to do on a Friday night. I'm much more of a Saturday night person. Anyway, I felt pretty normal the whole day, but in the evening I was a little grumpy and tired.

Saturday I took it easy in the morning. Normally on Saturdays I take a pilates mat class. Not sure how I'd be feeling, I stayed home. The morning and afternoon really weren't so bad. But, it probably would have been a lot easier if Josh didn't feel the need to grill up bacon-- I understand though, he was hung over :)

Saturday was my dedicated market day. The guy we bought our fruits and vegetables from was so happy with our purchase that he walked around his table to hand us our groceries and even threw in a few mandarins on the house. If you're from Amsterdam and you're familiar with Ten Katetraat, then you know how unusual that is. He'll be really sad after he realizes that's not our usual haul.

After the bountiful trip to the market, I was actually feeling really good. We went for a bike ride to the Amsterdam Bos, which is one of my favorite places in Amsterdam. We met up with some friends and spent the afternoon there. I brought some juice in a jar for the afternoon.

Now that it's Sunday, I'm on my third day of juice. Which brings me to my next point. Ten days is entirely too long. I'm thinking of cutting it back to seven days and ending it on Thursday. And I'm not just saying that because today was really hard (well, maybe that's exactly why I'm saying it). I'm saying it because I don't think I can do another weekend without eating a meal. I know I'm getting "food" but I really resent not chewing. And I really love cooking. I enjoy spending time on the weekend cooking for others. Preparing veggies to be juiced isn't quite as therapeutic as I'd hoped. Also, being social is hard. After the Bos yesterday we stopped by to say hi to friends having a picnic in Vondelpark. It's hard to be around people and say no to food. 1. It makes me feel rude. 2. I have to explain why I'm doing a juice fast.

When I say I'm doing a juice fast, people instantly think I'm doing the insane cayenne pepper maple syrup diet. So then there is some education about what I am actually doing. It's not bad to talk about, but by next weekend I can already imagine that I'd like to talk about anything else. I'd also like to eat a delicious meal.

So today I just stayed home. It was nice and slow, and that's good too. I'm looking forward to being busy at work for the next 4 days of the fast.

Experiment! 10-Day Juice Fast

2011-08-19T06:25:00.000-07:00

Oh hey, I finally bought a juicer!

Typically I'm more of a "everything is good in moderation" type of person. But, after some recent inspiration, I've decided to try a 10-day juice fast. This is not a diet and my concern isn't weight loss. This is not permanent. It's a detox and for me this is only an experiment in discipline.

Over the last few years I've been doing a lot of reading about food and I've watched a lot of documentaries about food. I pretty much love food and I love to cook. As this has become a little hobby of mine, I've only sort of changed the way I eat. I'm not a vegetarian, but for the most part I'll choose the veggie option over meat when I'm out and I almost never eat meat at home. But I can't seem to stick to it. I'll have a burger here and then before I know it I'm ordering the chicken curry. Meat isn't the only vice I've been trying to eat less of. I've been trying to cut out a lot of animal products, but I definitely haven't been able to kick my cheese addiction. And so to improve my relationship with food, I'm dedicating the next ten days to juicing raw fruits and vegetables.

Before I begin posting about this... let me clear up a few of the questions I've already been hearing:

"Why are you doing this?!"

First, I'm really interested/curious to see how my body reacts to it. Second, I have a skin irritation called eczema and I'm really curious to see if this change in diet will clear it up or at least help with it. And from what I've researched, it's supposed to be really good for your body as long as when you start eating again, you are eating well and including more raw foods. Even though I eat pretty well now, I think I can do better. This will hopefully jumpstart an even healthier lifestyle after the ten days are up.

"What about protein?! Where will you get your protein?"

In general, we eat way more protein than we ever really need to, and I'm sure I have plenty stored up. If that answer isn't good enough, I assure you that that protein can be found in watercress, asparagus, beet root, sweet potato, cauliflower, broccoli... and the list goes on. So please, no worries.

"Won't you just get a lot of highs and lows from so much sugar in fruit?"

Fresh pressed fruit is natural sugar, and it's way better for us than the sugar you find in almost all processed foods. And for the most part, I'll be drinking vegetable juice. I'm sure there will be some highs and lows along the way, but I'm actually interested in experiencing them and sensing how my body reacts.

"Won't you be tired and cranky?"

It's possible. I've read that the first three days are the hardest. Which is why I'm beginning on a Friday. This weekend will probably be a lot of me, my bed/couch, and TV. By Monday, I should start experiencing higher levels of energy and this guy has even said that by days 4 and 5 he was feeling as euphoric as doping.

If I am cranky, kindly take me to get a juice or remind me that I'm not normally like that.

"How will you juice at work?"

My house is only a 10 minute bike ride away, so for my lunch hour I'm going to try to head home each day. When I can't do that, I'll head to La Fruiteria or Screaming Beans, as they both sell fresh pressed juice.

It's going to be an interesting experiment and I'm eager to see how I do. It's only ten days. I can do this. And just to make sure you're not too worried about me (mom!) If I can't do this, that's okay too and I'll stop.

Here we go...

Beautiful Travel

2011-08-05T02:22:00.000-07:00

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

Beautifully executed. These videos perfectly capture the magic of traveling. Well done gentlemen! Definitely one of those "wish I would have done this" moments. (Oh, and then I read further. They were commissioned by STA Travel Australia. Still good).

And You Should Listen to This

2011-07-27T01:55:00.000-07:00

A Handy Tip for the Easily Distracted

2011-07-27T01:46:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned that I cannot wait to see this film?

Miranda July: The Future on Nowness.com.

This is also lovely.

Procrastination from Johnny Kelly on Vimeo.

No One Ever Writes About Shitty Days

2011-07-26T13:53:00.000-07:00

No one ever writes posts about shitty days at work. At least not in any of the blogs I follow. Sure people post status updates on Facebook and Twitter about how annoyed or frustrated they are, but typically no one cares enough to dedicate an entire blog post to it. And it's probably for good reason. Who cares, right?

Well today I had a shitty day. To start, it looks and feels like March and it's July. My work computer failed and I was unable to be productive at all. My boss didn't have time to go over work with me. Something I worked long and hard on was killed. An old man on the street looked at me wrong, a lady cut me off while I was on my bike... and the list goes on. Sure, it could have been worse. But, as my day got shittier and shittier, so did my attitude and I know that didn't help the morale in the office.

Which is why I'm writing about post about a shitty day. Yes, the weather could be nicer and yes I would like a new computer at work, blah blah blah.

But the truth about my shitty days is that most of the time, they start with me.

More or less than 18 months ago I was in my first real post-college job. I was idealistic about life, bright-eyed, energetic and full of fresh ideas. I couldn't understand why everyone around me was so cynical and negative all the time. Here I was in my first real job, still blown away by the fact that someone actually pays me to think and have ideas and be creative and make stuff!

Fast forward to today and I'm the cynical one. So what happened in that time? Between now and then, how did I become the person I loathed? The person I promised I'd never be? How do I get the old me back? We've heard it all before, negativity is a cancer to the work environment, for every positive there are ten negatives...

So why do we do it? Why do we give into negativity? It's a waste of time.

I'm turning it around. I'm going to make a conscious effort from today on.

Here is the advice I came up for myself. It's not meant to be self-righteous or preachy. I didn't make it up and I'm not taking credit, but it's my action plan and I'll share it. Because it's likely that if you're taking the time to read about a shitty day, you might just be having one yourself.

1. If something or someone is upsetting you, do something positive to change the situation.
But... but, what if I'll upset someone or what if I do it wrong or...

2. Don't ask for permission, ask for forgiveness.
If you're doing something with good intentions, chances are, all you'll have to do is explain that.

3. Stop giving in to negative conversation.
I'm not saying stop talking to people who are negative or need to have a good rant, just make sure the conversation is constructive or excuse yourself.

4. Pay a genuine compliment to someone or do something nice for someone else.
You'll feel better if you're nice. Simple as that. Remember those random acts of kindness books? We should do more of that.

5. Take your lunch break.
Ah, but you're too busy to take lunch? You'd be less stressed if you walked away from your work from time to time.

If this still doesn't work... try writing your own obituary. Maybe it's time to change direction.

As for me, I'm going to be making a better effort. I'm reminding myself that I'm paid to think and be creative and have ideas and make stuff.

Everyday isn't going to be the highlight of your career, and that's okay. But it's not okay to be a Debbie Downer.

Debbie Downer from Markusm86 on Vimeo.

Jewelry Heaven

2011-07-19T04:55:00.000-07:00

I'm sure there will be many blog posts over the next week that begin with "I love Barcelona! Oh, how I love Barcelona!" But, it's true. I love Barcelona. Before the trip I asked for suggestions of things to do from friends who had been there or lived there, and their lists were quite good. But, I have to say, my favorite thing that I did there was to simply walk around and wander into shops.

Not only is Barcelona is filled with beautiful architecture and intricate texture, but it's also filled with quirky and original retail spaces where every detail had been thought about. Which is why I fell in love with this shop.

Ena Macana creates her pieces from combining new and old. After a trip to her studio her motto, "Watch out for the small things" really comes to life.

A few pieces I purchased for myself.

With a stack of blank cards and a big ink stamp, you create a do it yourself business card.

Gorgeous mesh bags.

Airbnb.com

2011-07-18T03:17:00.000-07:00

If you haven't checked it out, do it. We've just returned from two long holidays and we've booked through Airbnb.com and each time the booking was perfect. I don't normally write posts like this, but... I feel like sharing the good news.

We've stayed in a Swedish summer cabin, in the immaculate home of pensioners in the Costa Brava region and shared the perfect location in Barcelona with other travelers.

So far we're 3 for 3 with no weird surprises along the way. The whole process is smooth and everything has turned out exactly as we've imagined it, if not a little better. The website really allows you to screen people. As a guest, I felt like I was not only getting a good deal, but the opportunity to stay in someone else's home really allowed me to travel like a local rather than a tourist. As a host, you even have a security deposit that airbnb holds for you with a credit card in case your guests aren't as great as we were :)

I'm so impressed with the user experience that I don't even mind paying the small fee. As a start-up, it's really exciting to see how well Airbnb is doing.

Infographic via @fastcodesign:

The Future

2011-05-24T14:47:00.001-07:00

"Well the thing is, you're just in the middle of the beginning right now"

Love this.

2011-05-12T03:32:00.000-07:00

This video is fucking rad.

Grimes - Vanessa from Arbutus Records on Vimeo.

Twin Creepy Peaks

2011-04-14T00:24:00.000-07:00

I love Twin Peaks. This tribute is fantastically creepy. Enjoy!

§ - A Blue Rose [Twin Peaks] from § on Vimeo.

(via @ronayne)

Skittles, Lick the Rainbow

2011-03-30T01:40:00.000-07:00

It's interactive. It has a cat. It makes you uncomfortable. It's so Skittles and it's so good.

Check out the rest here.

Nice work BBDO Toronto.

If I should have a daughter...

2011-03-30T01:31:00.000-07:00

I love this TED Talk. In my list of favorites for sure, please watch!

Send Silence Packing Continues

2011-03-30T01:24:00.000-07:00

Last year I was honored to take part in Send Silence Packing, a suicide awareness display from Active Minds.

This year it's on the road again with my good friends Brandon and Nicole. While I'm not on the road this year, I will be following along! This display is one of the most important messages I've had the privilege to help spread. Good luck with this years tour!

I hope you'll follow along, educate yourself and others about mental health as an advocate.

Confessional Culture

2011-03-16T04:21:00.001-07:00

This morning I listened to episode 428 of This American Life titled, "Oh, you shouldn't have!"

The way Allison Silverman concludes her piece on confessional culture at the end of act 1 was strikingly interesting to me.

"...But it's not really just about the person confessing, it's about why we're paying attention to their story. When we hear someone lay it all out there, there is a reason, beyond voyeurism that we like to listen. In 1958 Lillian Roth was interviewed by Mike Wallace, she said it best.

"Have you ever wondered though, why the American public seems to be so fascinated with this kind of story? Is it possibly just the desire to look across the courtyard into somebody else's open window?"

"Well I think where my story is concerned, it goes back to an old philosophy I read. It said, in each man's heart there is a secret sorrow that the world knows nothing about and I think that humanity feels that their sorrow is for you and their compassion is for you, but it has touched a part of their heart that they will not open the door themselves, they won't even begin. And in the subconscious, the tie is there."

What she's saying is… When you watch me discuss my sad life on This is Your Life, it's not me that's revealed, it's you."

Human Planet

2011-03-15T05:44:00.000-07:00

I am really excited about BBC's new series, Human Planet.

Watch the trailer here or go to youtube and watch full screen in HD.

Live the Language

2011-03-15T05:03:00.000-07:00

These ads for Live the Language are simply beautiful. I love the typography choices and the sense of adventure that comes with traveling/exploring a new place. Well done!

EF - Live The Language - Paris from Albin Holmqvist on Vimeo.

EF - Live The Language - Barcelona from Albin Holmqvist on Vimeo.

EF - Live The Language - Beijing from Albin Holmqvist on Vimeo.

What is Planning?

2011-03-15T03:36:00.000-07:00

"[Planners] have no responsibilities. Not really. Which means you’ll never be that important. But it makes you free to think about the right stuff, and gives you the time to consider stuff. Everyone else in the agency actually has to get stuff done and often doesn’t have the time to think. You do. So you should." -Russell Davies via Rachel Hom

Planners, what do you think?

Seven Days of Lent So Far...

2011-03-15T02:55:00.000-07:00

Ash Wednesday marks Day 1:

I decided my path for lent by venturing out to the bookstore for lunch.

Thursday (2):
Dinner with new friends.

Photo Credit: Rachael Kendrick

Our wonderful host and chef Rachael isn't in this photo as she is taking the photo, but all delicious credit goes to her and her amazing skills in the kitchen. Thanks for having us over!

Friday (3):

Took a new route to work and learnt my way around new video editing software.

Regular route to work

New route to work

Obviously the new route to work took longer, but it's nice to explore and see different things. I think I'll try to change it up more often.

Saturday (4):

I made this new to me recipe, leek fritters from my newest cookbook, Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi.

Photo Credit: Josh Harris

Sunday (5):

A day for television. I started watching We Can Be Heroes: Finding the Australian of the Year

and watched Ricky Gervais' new standup, Out of England

Monday (6):

Went to meet my new Dutch doctor. She is very nice and helpful. The Dutch national health care system seems pretty great so far. I registered on Friday, they saw me on Monday and everyone in the office was kind and generally pleasant. That has not been my experience in the United States all that often.

I also started reading this book

Tuesday (7):

Today I woke up an hour earlier than I normally do and I went running through Vondelpark. I think this will be one of my new daily things that sticks. I am so lucky that I live so close to such an amazing park.

7 new things down, 33 to more to go!

A Challenge for Lent

2011-03-09T08:12:00.000-08:00

Today I took a walk to the American Book Center and I came across this book:

It reminded me of my good friend Brandon Doman. Brandon is always thinking up new things to try and ideas that will delight and inspire others. This book is filled with idea starters for creative little adventures to do each day. Thoughts like:

"Spend the day following a postal worker on their route" or "Take a self portrait with your head in a tree"

...and the famous:

It reminded Keri Smith books, Wreck this Journal and How to Be an Explorer of the World. I also saw that Keri has a new book:

I have a lot of these books at home (far away home, sitting on a shelf in Oregon) and I miss them. I think books like this are great ways to get you out of your routine. I like to flip through them when I'm in a creative rut and challenge myself to do something new.

I've been trying to think of something to give up for Lent. I'm not particularly religious, but I like participating in Lent as a thoughtful personal challenge. These books inspired me today. Instead of giving up something for Lent this year, I'm going to try to do something (even a very small thing) new each day and then post to my blog. If you can't think of Lent as anything other than sacrifice, well them I'm sacrificing my daily routine and trading it in for something more fun.

Here is to creativity.

Reinventing Feminism

2011-03-09T07:04:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the 100th annual celebration of International Women's Day. In the United Kingdom and the United States, the entire month of March is dedicated to women's history. When I think about what it means to be a woman, I think about what feminism means to me.

When I was 18 and just beginning my college career, I was working at a catering company. One evening I was assigned an event for a local feminist group in Portland where Linda Ellerbee would be speaking. Was this the same Linda Ellerbee from Nick News who inspired children to make a difference in their communities? The same Linda Ellerbee that had me glued to the TV on Sunday nights? The one who thought kids ought to know what is going on in the world and gave them outlet to discuss real issues? I was a huge fan of Linda Ellerbee as a child and I was extremely interested to see what she had to say on the topic of feminism. Before that evening, I might not have referred to myself as a feminist, but her talk transformed me.

I didn't grow up in a particularly political home. And often I would spend time with my very conservative grandmother who felt that feminism could be taken as an insult to family and to husbands. Maybe I had the impression that she thought the word had too much authority? At a young age, I thought that feminism was negative. And for a long time I thought that maybe I wasn't hardcore enough to be a feminist, and that taking on that title meant you had to be all one way and not another.

The night I saw Linda Ellerbee speak, she asked one simple question, "Do you believe that women deserve equal rights and the same respect as men? If you answer yes, then you are indeed a feminist." And in that moment I realized that all along I had been a feminist.

I am a feminist and I had always been a feminist.

My mother always taught me that I had choices in life and that only I could decide what would be right or wrong for myself. Was this some kind of radical indoctrination? My grandmother might say so. She had always sent a message that girls needed to behave and act in a certain way and live up to certain female expectations. My mother on the other hand always asked me what I thought about things. If I asked her a question about something, she'd prompt me to come up with my own research and opinions on the subject. And when I came up with my conclusions, she'd ask me, "What does that mean?" sending me into another spiral of thinking. But what she would never do was tell me what to think or how to go about something. Early on, my mother was teaching me to be a feminist.

Courtney Martin edits a blog called Feminsting.com. It has been a while since I've watched a TED Talk that made me feel so empowered and inspired.

Near the end of Courtney's talk she remembers witnessing her mother deliver daily acts of caring and creativity. This struck me as wonderful.

The idea of reinventing feminism is a great idea, because it can spark a change in attitude. For a lot of men and women, my grandmother included, it's about identifying aspects of feminism that you can relate to rather than turning it down completely. And that's how you open your mind to new ideas later on. Although my grandmother might never see herself as a feminist, she has given her care and creativity to others on a daily basis for as long as I can remember.

Feminism to me is about equality and respect.

On a side note, I thought this was an interesting inforgraphic/presentation about where women around the world are today. Food for thought:

A Week of Museums: Part 3

2011-02-25T03:08:00.000-08:00

Today turned out to have an obvious theme-- life and death and all of the symbols, rituals and stories in between. This morning we started at the Tropenmuseum which is currently featuring ROOD or RED.

Red is an undeniable symbol to all cultures and people and its use carries many different meanings. It's actually my favorite color, but it's not a color I ever wear. In fact, I don't own anything red. The exhibit got me thinking about that, and it's probably because it is such a strong color.

As we entered the exhibit we could hear a loud heartbeat, representing the blood that pumps life through us; representing birth, initiation, marriage and death. As we went on we experienced red as happiness, luck, love, lust, energy, status, war and defense.

The Tropenmuseum's permanent collection was really nice from the perspective of cultural anthropology. It featured "tropical" countries from Asian, African, Latin and South American continents and everything was set up as a very interactive, walk-through tour that seemed to take you to a different place in time. I could have spent hours there and thought that this kind of museum could be an awesome place to do a briefing someday with a creative team.

Later we went to De Appel, or what I think was De Appel, but it felt like more of an annex. I've heard really good things about De Appel, which is why I was a little disappointed about it. To be honest, the current exhibit felt like an art school failure. It was so obvious that you walk away feeling like you really didn't get it or you did get it and "was that it?"

I typically enjoy contemporary/experiential art, but Diamond Dancer was a bit lazy and uninventive. The artist, Valerie Mannaerts, seemed to have thoughtful intentions, but executed poorly. Her use of multimedia wasn't stimulating, meaning, I didn't experience any real climax and left feeling a little blank. But then again, maybe that was the point and perhaps I'm being harsh and what do I know? If you go to this, I'd love to hear your take.

The best part about the entire exhibit was a quote that introduced the installation:

"An artist, just like an author, also creates fiction, but does so on the basis of objects. After all, art takes you to a different experience, which is at another level, not a higher or lower level, but somewhere else."

I agree that this is the role of an artist, but I really didn't feel myself taken anywhere else. Moving on...

Our last stop was the Utivaartmuseum or funeral museum and I was really drawn to this one. I've never been too uncomfortable with uncomfortable topics, but I understand how death can be very uncomfortable for people to explore and question. After all, it's surrounded with mystery, pain and loss. Typically when I think about death, I think about survivors rather than the end. This kind of museum isn't for everyone, as you can read from my co-worker Yuli's take. I agree with Yuli about focusing on the celebration of life rather than dwelling on death, but sometimes in order for us to truly celebrate life, we must learn how to mourn death. That's where the survivor part comes in.

Last spring I worked for an organization called Active Minds. My role as a mental health advocate was to take an interactive message about suicide awareness on a 10-city tour across the United States. Talking about death quickly became a proactive topic for me and during this tour I met a lot of survivors, people who had lost someone they loved to suicide and those who had survived attempts themselves. I can't tell you how many times I was thanked for sharing that message or told how important it was to keep sharing the message.

I really think there is a place for the Utivaartmuseum and I was really glad to experience it. I think this kind of museum is more comforting than it is uncomfortable and it made me feel more thankful than anything.

A really impressive and moving exhibit they are currently showing was Bedrooms of the Fallen. Ashley Gilbertson shares a strong and provocative message. Gilbertson spent time as a photojournalist in Iraq and Afghanistan, but realized that we've become desensitized with images of war. He wanted to depict war in a different light so he chose to focus on the survivor, to capture what is left behind. Often times when thinking of war, we forget to think of the individuals fighting that war, we forget to think about their relationships to others, their families, friends and communities. Gilbertson took a really different approach and I believe that because he was able to show us something we don't normally see, we are forced to pay attention and think differently.

It reminded me of a project by Joshua Berger, the creative director at my last agency. While Gilbertson honors soilders lost at war, Berger honors the lost civilians in Collateral Damage.

The theme for day 3 really was a cycle of life, beginning with energy and curiosity, pausing with some confusion and ending with somber, thoughtful reflection.

Looking forward to what day 4 has in store.

A Week of Museums: Part 2

2011-02-22T07:32:00.000-08:00

The Rijksmuseum is huge, at least that's what I imagine-- we only made it through two wings before we needed lunch. Going to large museums or areas where a lot of tourists frequent, I often find myself tagging along with strangers as if I'm part of their group. It's inevitable in a way, the people you enter with tend to be at the same point of the tour or gallery as you are throughout your visit. But something about that is nice, especially if you're wandering on your own. It's nice to listen to a father explain a piece of work to his son or woman reflect on a period of time with a friend. It gives you a different perspective without being too intrusive. I like to sit back quietly and watch the different reactions. This was especially interesting in the Rijksmuseum as we weaved in and out of different periods of Dutch history. At some points you might see a proud Dutchman reflect positively about the accomplishments of Holland in the 16th and 17th centuries while at the same time a tourist from elsewhere can reflect very differently.

The Rijksmuseum was really a nice introduction to Dutch history, and I think I might take some time to go back. It's all really interesting with the expansion of trade and world travel throughout the 17th century. For instance Delftware was made popular only when Chinese porcelain became unavailable due to war.

above: Chinese porcelain

above: Delftware

One my favorite things where these amazingly intricate doll's houses.

Walking past the rows of houses along the canals everyday, I can't help but imagine what they must have been like so many years ago. These doll's houses are so accurate that the furniture and rooms are actually to scale. Apparently they were very expensive to build, just as expensive as an actual canal house was back then!

An amazing project we've all been paying attention to is the Google Art Project. You can take a tour of the Rijksmuseum even if you can't come to the Netherlands just yet! Thanks technology! Now you have no excuse not to hang out with Rembrandt.

Onto Van Gogh! Right now there is a wonderful exhibit featuring Pablo Picasso's work during his time spent in Paris.

Picasso in Paris is a particularly interesting look at Picasso's evolution as an artist through the inspiration of being surrounded by and exposed to so many other artists during that time. There are many contrasts between Picasso's work and that of Toulouse-Lautrec, Steinlen, Gauguin, Van Gogh and Cezanne. Picasso was an artist who was able to borrow and absorb the work of others to help him grow. I find that this is a characteristic of a true collaborator and an open mind. I think about this all the time, especially in the "digital" age. We're constantly repurposing the work of others as that of our own, and it's important to remember that we must find a way to make it original too. Every piece of Picasso's work that I saw today was original in the purest form.

The theme of "stealing from everywhere" ran through the exhibit and reminded me of a quote I thoroughly enjoy from Jim Jarmusch:

Later in the day we tried to go to the Filmmuseum which is located in the beautiful Vondelpark. The museum is now known as Eye Film Institute Netherlands and unfortunately there were no exhibits today, but we did notice they have the largest library of film and film related books in the Netherlands, as well as 2 Theaters with reasonably priced admission. I'll be back!

A Week of Museums: Part 1

2011-02-21T08:21:00.000-08:00

Today marks the first day of our museum tour. My co-workers Yuliani Setiadi and Ben Culpin, and myself are spending an entire week exploring one of the most museum rich cities in the world, Amsterdam.

Wait a second, I know what you're thinking, "You're going to museums for work?! Why?!" Part of being a planner is the art of gathering inspiration from all over. Sometimes we spend a little too much time in front of our screens and with others in our industry and not enough time exploring our environment and talking to "normal people." I can only speak for myself but, I started work the day after arriving in Amsterdam and I am ecstatic to finally take some time to explore my new city, and even more ecstatic that my boss assigned us this amazing task.

Our first stop today was NEMO, a museum (mostly) for kids based around science and technology. It reminded me a lot of OMSI back in Portland, only there were some progressive differences. That's right Portland, take notes!

1. Take a look at Teen Facts:

Whoa! What's that?! Yep. An entire exhibit in a children's museum about sex. This would blow me away if I saw it in the United States, but I have to say I was quite pleased to see it and refreshed when Yuli informed me that the Netherlands has one of the lowest teen pregnancy rates when compared with other developed nations. When we returned today I took it upon myself to do some fact checking and the differences from the US to the Netherlands is appalling! Especially when congress is voting on and threatening the funding of Planned Parenthood, one of the most widely known education and family planning clinics in the US. Here in the Netherlands education starts early and the results aren't surprising; education makes a huge difference. While statistics always seem to be a bit dated, results from 1996-2002 all point in the same direction. The Netherlands teen pregnancy rate stays consistently low while the Unites States stays consistently (outrageously) high.

Education matters!

2. Let's talk about race.

Another taboo in the states, openly talking about race and acknowledging differences. Nemo has entire section dedicated to social constructs including race. You can enter this section through one of two doors:

After entering through the doors children are asked to think about the choices they made. They are able to watch a video which prompts several questions to provoke thinking about race and the effect authority had and continues to have on how we see differences. This kind of discourse is important, especially if we want to teach children how to question authority and think critically. Wonderful stuff!

Working for a brand like Pampers, we read a lot of books on child psychology and care. Recently we've been reading Nurture Shock which has a great chapter titled, "Why White Parents Don't Talk About Race." The chapter references a study conducted around race and questions the thinking that children are "color-blind". A lot of parents participating in the study felt like they were very open and conscious of racial issues with their children, but when researchers asked them to change the experiment up and actually have conversations about race with their children and report back on it, several parents dropped out. Author Po Bronson recollects his own nervousness around talking with his children about racial differences. For the most part he felt that he and his wife had subjected their children to a very diverse upbringing by placing them in multicultural schools and childcare. What Bronson comes to realize is that children are wired to notice differences at as early as 6 months old, and if you're not willing to have a conversation about those differences, children are left to question differences with their own conclusions.

After Nemo we journeyed to Foam to check out the W. Eugene Smith exhibit "More Real than Reality."

This was actually my second time through this particular exhibit, but I was just as fascinated as the first time. W. Eugene Smith is known for his photojournalism career with Life magazine and is known as the undisputed master of the photo-essay. Smith has covered such a range of people and events, which he describes as a "college education, upon a college education, upon a college education." This kind of in-depth journalism reminded me of something we've been talking a lot about at work lately: Informants. Rob Campbell coined this term in the plannersphere, but the basic idea is get to know people, all kinds of people from all over the world in all different industries. Befriend them and really get to know them because these are the people who will shed the most insights on your work.

Day one, success!

1/1/11

2011-01-01T11:33:00.000-08:00

Kim, make a wish :)

Everyone else, Happy New Year!

My co-worker Ben Culpin put together a nice video of his time since arriving in Amsterdam-- including some great shots of the city, our christmas party and NYE.

Last night we rung in the new year at the corner of Noordermarkt and no matter which direction we turned, there were fireworks going off all around and people lighting any and everything on fire. Needless to say, the night turned out wonderful! I hope yours was just as great.

Check out Ben's video:

PhoneReel 2010 from Ben Culpin on Vimeo.

The morning after, you've got to appreciate the Dutch outlook:

"In Rotterdam, a bakery burnt down and 12 homes were evacuated. In Friesland a farm was destroyed by fire and dozens of cows killed."

You know, "mainly peaceful"...

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays!

2010-12-24T02:51:00.000-08:00

Instead of sending holiday cards this year, Josh and I thought we create a video card instead! This is our first Christmas in Amsterdam and here is our little tree. Missing everyone back home and wishing you all a very merry Christmas!

Holidays in the Dam from Ashly Stewart on Vimeo.

I'm Recommitting Myself

2010-12-09T06:29:00.000-08:00

I'm back. I'm recommitting myself to my blog. After 3 months of no posts, I've decided it's time.

I'd like to dedicate this post and the next few posts to Rachel Hom, who so patiently waited for my updates. Rachel, this is for you.

First, I'll celebrate with you and explain that I've moved to Amsterdam to take a job at StrawberryFrog, which I am very much enjoying.

I've been thinking a lot about why I'm not posting anymore, and I can't really come up with anything other than I just stopped and it's hard to start again. I enjoy posting, but after so long it becomes hard to get back into it. I think Kim put it nicely in one of her latest posts when she said something like, we're too concentrated on posting results rather than the process. I'd like to focus more on process from now on.. you know, take some of the pressure off.

But... because it's been so long, here are some results.

1. Moved to Amsterdam

2. This is my new Dutchie bike!

3. I live with these fun people

Chris is from New Zealand and Orla hails from Ireland. Chris is our transcontinental translator. Somehow Kiwis are well-versed in Irish/British and American English.

You know Josh, he's here too!

4. We celebrated Thanksgiving here and I made this delicious apple pie

5. I took my first business trip to Dubai and got to spend some time by the pool after work

6. I love my new job and all the great people I'm working with!

Every week our planning department gets together to do "novelty hour," which has become one of my favorite new activities. It's basically a time for us to get together once a week and teach each other something, experience something new in culture, and get to know each other outside of client work.

So far activities have included a musical jam session, a trapeze workshop, an idea book session, afternoon tea and a round of questions.

That's it for now. More process on the way, I promise. Something about promising things on publicly on the Internet really makes you follow through.

Thank you, NWISC!

2010-08-11T22:34:00.000-07:00

Tonight nearly concludes our 2010 NWISC summer documentary program. We have just two short days left together, but tonight we held our final event at the p:ear gallery and it was such a success. After nearly 7 weeks working with 9 talented, smart and optimistic college students from around the country, I am so impressed with how far they have come. A few of our fellows had a some experience working with media, but for the majority this was their first adventure into storytelling, production and editing.

I am so proud of each and everyone one of them and I feel honored to have had the experience to work with them throughout the summer. I know they are walking away with a lot of learning, but I also know that I learned so much from each of them. To the NWISC class of 2010, thank you!

Check out some of their work! As soon as I can I will post some of their audio projects, but for now, please enjoy their video documentaries.

Portland Perspectives on Global Issues

2010-08-10T16:05:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, this summer I have been working with the Northwest Institute for Social Change. Tomorrow evening is our final event and we will be screening the radio and film documentaries that our fellows have worked so hard to create this summer. Details of the event are as follows! Please spread the word, and I hope to see you tomorrow evening!

Invite by Benjamin Hovland

Invite by Sara Rasmussen

This summer, nine students from around the country brought their creative forces to Portland to learn about media and social change. In six weeks, the fellows produced five radio documentaries and three short films highlighting Portland solutions to global issues. The Northwest Institute for Social Change's Summer Documentary Fellows are proud to invite you to our showcase event.

Portland Perspectives on Global Issues: Final Documentary Project Exhibition
Wednesday, August 11 ∙ 7:00pm – 9:00pm
P:ear gallery space, 338 NW 6th Avenue, Portland, OR 97209

Please join us for a viewing of our films about backyard chicken coops in the city, the Children's Healing Art Project (CHAP), and a youth employment program between Urban Opportunities and Voodoo Doughnut. And experience our radio stories about Portland Streetcar expansion, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls, the Community Cycling Center, Mercy Corps microfinance program for women, and the Community Energy Project.

Come celebrate what is great about Portland with a new generation of documentary makers and social changers.

We hope to see you there!

Being Alone

2010-08-06T01:21:00.000-07:00

This is lovely.

Portland Love

2010-08-03T08:20:00.000-07:00

Some of Portland's finest have been featured on NOTCOT recently:

From the boys over at Kamp Grizzly, we present Cupcake Cannon.

CUPCAKE CANNON from kamp grizzly on Vimeo.

And from one of my personal favorites, Jelly Helm, Studio Jelly and many other wonderful people, we are in awe with Over It.

Space is Process: A film about Olafur Eliasson

2010-08-03T08:15:00.000-07:00

"Space is Process" a film about Olafur Eliasson from martin køhler on Vimeo.

"The world can change."

Maybe you're feeling too productive lately...

2010-08-03T07:42:00.001-07:00

Here is some YouTube goodness I've been enjoying lately.

This is hip hop. This has occupied a lot of my time. "Start out just hittin' it, hittin' it, hittin' it! Ahhhh."

Maybe you're feeling the need for something adorable.

Jerkin' Jeneration. I am completely captivated with Jerkin'. That sounds uncomfortable to say, at first, but it's amazing to watch. For a better quality version, go here.

So badass.

I wish this was real. Oregon Trail, we'll always have my childhood.

And as my friend Geoff says, "If any of you are feeling too productive right now, give this a few minutes."

Oh, hello blog.

2010-08-02T22:34:00.000-07:00

Wow. I haven't written a post in a long, long time. I don't know if I have ever had this long of a break since I began writing this blog. Since I returned from my jaunt around the country, I've had a lot on my plate, not to mention living the summer to the fullest. I've had the opportunity to work with the Northwest Institute for Social Change as the program assistant and mentor to nine amazingly talented, optimistic and smart college students from around the country. We've been working hard and they are well on their way to wrapping up this summer's program. I'll be really excited to share their projects with you very soon! Also, while working with them I had the opportunity to be certified at Portland Community Media, which means that I can now use professional quality video production equipment whenever I like. By mentioning this, I plan on taking that as a challenge to myself to produce something interesting very soon.

I've also had the opportunity to freelance a lot more. Since May I have been honored to work with a variety of new clients including Razorfish and Nike's Idea Lab. I'd give you the details, but then they probably wouldn't have me back :) Freelancing has been a huge growth experience for me because there isn't anyone showing me how to do the work; instead I have to take a risk and experiment with my own style and direction. It feels good to be trusted like that and so far all of the work I've had the opportunity to do has been fun. Really fun. One of my favorite parts of the work I am doing is presentation. Back when I was working at ID Branding, as a junior I would work on the work, and then it was often presented by someone else. Presentation is a thrill. I like it and I look forward to it, and I'm happy to have the practice. Working as a freelancer has a lot of up sides. One being that I work on my own schedule. As much as I have enjoyed this life, I think that soon I'll be ready to start looking for something more structured. I miss working with a team and having the ability to collaborate quickly.

I've also been busy just simply enjoying summer. Back in June, Josh and I took a trip to northeastern Oregon and rafted the Grand Ronde river through the Wallowas with his brother and sister-in-law.

It was gorgeous and relaxing. Well, we relaxed as soon as we got this rattle snake out of our camp.

Recently I've bought a new-to-me road bike which has made my life so much more enjoyable. There has been plenty of summer grilling with friends and family, nights out filled with music and bonfires, time spent at Mt. Hood, weddings and even an art auction.

Our kickball was as awesome as ever, even if we weren't always winning (we dominated spring league and took the soft-core championship), I'm pretty sure we had too much fun for our own good. Our team was called the Never Nudes, we wore a uniform of jorts and if you're an Arrested Development fan, then you'll probably enjoy this:

So far, so good. I've got some good things in the works and as soon as I can report on it, I will. I'm excited to get some more time to work on an older project I started way back befo re April. Overall, life is good. Sorry I've left you all out of it for so long. From now on I'll work on posting more regularly and spare you the catch up posts.

New Job! And I Need Your Help...

2010-05-18T14:26:00.000-07:00

What do you do when you finish college during a recession?

Prepare yourself for the economic boom by taking on as many interesting jobs that you can find and learn everything that is available to you.

My last job with Active Minds has come to a close and I've just recently accepted my next adventure as the program assistant for the Northwest Institute for Social Change. Twelve students from all over the country come to Portland, Oregon for a 7-week documentary film camp to explore how media positively influences social change.

We need your help! To learn more I would like to introduce a letter to you from our executive director, Phil Busse. If you or someone you know is interested in hosting a student for 6 weeks of our program, please be in touch with myself or with Phil. Thank you in advance for your consideration and help spreading the word.

Phil's message:

I am hoping that you can help out a program that I run during the summer: The Media Institute for Social Change (nwisc.com). Each summer we host a dozen college students from across the country to teach and inspire them how the media can bring about positive social changes. Future documentary filmmakers, future radio hosts, future progressive journalists. It is a truly unique program. Students spend their summer in Portland producing documentaries about “local solutions to global issues,” and then share those documentaries with elected officials around the country with the hopes of inspiring forward-thinking programs elsewhere.

What I’m looking for are short-term homestays for some of our students. We have been fortunate in the past that local families have provided a room for students for the weeks that they are here. An important part of our program is introducing these students to Portland and its community (and perhaps recruiting this talent here to stay).

These are truly remarkable “kids.” Amy from Tufts University is a deejay at the college station and has produced short pieces about the cleanup in New Orleans. Benjamin from St. Olaf College has produced short videos to promote bikes as a more viable form of transportation.

We are looking for places for these students from Saturday, July 3 through Friday, August 13.

Homestay families in the past have found this to be a fun and rewarding experience. This year, we even have a student whose family hosted someone three years ago. She was so impressed and inspired by the program that she decided to attend herself!

If you are interested, or even if you can provide some help or suggestions about families who may be interested, I would be incredibly grateful.

Thank you.

Phil Busse

Director

MediaMakingChange.org

503.975-4545

pwbusse@yahoo.com

Travel Update

2010-04-18T20:42:00.000-07:00

I am realizing that it's really hard to keep up with my own blog while traveling and writing for a separate blog. So far we have traveled from Washington DC to Wyoming. We made it to Wyoming yesterday and today we spent the afternoon in Vedauwoo. Here are some beautiful pictures compliments of Brandon. I know I should be taking my own photos, but he takes such lovely pictures and is doing a wonderful job of documenting our journey.

Reaching Wyoming was like a breath of fresh air and I instantly felt at home. It is so beautiful here and I can only imagine how Montana will be. I love this part of the country so much. Every time I travel past my own region I am reminded of how beautiful home is and how much I love the northwest. If you've never been, you owe it to yourself to visit. I'm really happy I am finally seeing Wyoming and soon, Montana.

In other news, Brandon and I have decided to start a little show. Here is our first episode:

Also, I haven't forgotten about the new edition of Hotel Notes and I will be getting caught up as soon as I can. I will let you in on this: The secret to finding a great place to stay is to look for a hotel using "garden" in its name. MAJOR successes with those. More to come :)

Hotel Notes: Hyatt Regency in Bethesda

2010-04-04T19:37:00.001-07:00

It's not every month that you get to live out of hotels, so for the month I am traveling, I've decided to keep a log of all of my stays. This weekend I stayed in the Hyatt Regency in Bethesda, MD. It's a pretty good spot, right next to the metro stop. Staying in a hotel tends to make me feel like an important business person. This feeling was fleeting as it quickly vanished the moment I attempted to wash some of my clothes in the bathtub using complimentary soaps and shampoos.

My favorite part about the Hyatt is that the elevators look like Wonkavators:

Also, it's pretty neat that they offer complimentary internet in the lobby here. It's not very neat that there is no where to sit. Hyatt, buy some furniture:

I'm no architect, but I'm not so sure how I feel about the design of this place with all of its open space. I'm normally not afraid of heights, but walking from the Wonkavator to my room, I am terrified that I am going to have a freak accident and fall over the railing. I can't help but wonder if people have actually done this. Terrifying.

Some positives about the hotel, they have a nice little work out facility. I have a feeling that with all of the driving we'll be doing on this trip, I'm going to become very familiar with hotel fitness rooms.

I worked out here yesterday and today and I am feeling great. Not to mention the 3-5 hours of walking I've done each day all over D.C.

I love to describe myself as resourceful. Note: the fitness area offers filtered water. When the water in your room tastes of chlorine, this is a very important tip.

Also, the fitness area gives out free apples in the morning. My only real expense on this trip will be the cost of food, so free food earns an A in my book.

On a scale of 1-5, Hyatt, you can have a 3. It's hard to be the first. Who knows, maybe I will change my mind by the end of the trip.

Washington D.C.

2010-04-04T17:40:00.000-07:00

First stop, Washington D.C.

Friday I spent the day getting to know the Active Minds office and helping prepare for our trip. Brandon arrives Monday afternoon, so I've had the whole weekend here to myself. The hotel I am staying at is just outside of D.C. in a little suburb called Bethesda. A wonderful coincidence, because fortunately the only person I really know here also happens to live right in Bethesda.

I met up with Haley for brunch with her roommate Abigail, who also happens to be the cousin of a friend of ours from college. Haley is amazing and gave me all the tips I would need for a successful weekend. Trying to take her up on a few suggestions, I made my way to into Washington. Instead of doing touristy things on my own, I found myself tagging along with strangers and for short periods of time, adopting them as my own family. Most of the day I spent walking closely behind my adopted families, eavesdropping on their conversations and then moving onto the next.

I didn't really do all of the things I was supposed to do. For me, there were just way too many people.

Example:

Hmm. No thanks.

I tried taking pictures of the things I was supposed to...

Apparently cherry blossoms are a pretty big deal around here.

But I got bored with that. I figure that if I Google search any one monument or cherry blossom for that matter, I can probably come up with hundreds of images from that exact same day.

In the end, I had more fun taking pictures of things like this:

Everyone loves our nation's capital. Even furries come to Washington D.C.

This little guy was just hanging out in the street.

Alright, nerds... welcome to Washington D.C., now where is Gob?

I thought this tree looked a bit like a dragon.

Last, but not least... Washington D.C. and most major cities could really take some notes from Portland on waste management.

Midwest Road Trip

2010-03-31T12:00:00.000-07:00

It's true- I'm about to embark upon a great Midwestern adventure. I will be going on a 30-day road trip through the great states of: Virginia, Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Ohio. I'll admit it, I've been pretty scared of the entire Midwest for most of my life. It's a strange place when you're used to living near mountains and the ocean. Regardless, I am so excited for this trip- all 4,876 miles of it.

Brandon Doman and I were recently hired by Active Minds to take their Send Silence Packing program on the road. Active Minds is an non-profit organization working to promote awareness and change the conversation about mental health on college campuses. They recently applied for the Pepsi-Refresh Everything Competition and were awarded a $50,000 grant. How amazing is that? I've been hearing about the Pepsi-Refresh campaign and thinking up ways to apply myself. I'm really thrilled that this program is actually touching my life and so many others.

Not only will I be driving through the beautiful and flat Midwest, I will get to participate in a program of substance to help spread an important message. I'm really excited to be working with Active Minds, especially to promote Send Silence Packing (SSP). SSP is a suicide awareness campaign aimed to begin a dialog around the silent statistic that on average, 1,100 college students commit suicide nationwide each year.

Brandon and I will be keeping a blog and twitter account to help share our stories and the stories of others while we're on the road. I'll be sure to post more on my experiences.

I fly out to Washington D.C. tomorrow. If you're in D.C. I'll be there all weekend and I would love to see you!

A Week of Intellect

2010-03-11T11:49:00.001-08:00

Some weeks are more intellectual than others. Last week was one of them. Monday I was kindly invited to see my friend Nick Carter and three others read short stories at The Maiden. The stories were based off of a series of prompts and were read in four acts (you can read Nick's sto ry here). I loved this. I love creative writing and what was more special, was seeing my friend present his personal work. I know Nick from the advertising world and having him share his personal work was really a gift. Nick is an amazing writer and if you're in need of an amazing writer, you should seek him out.

Later in the week I attended my first ever Ignite Portland and I absolutely loved it. The idea behind Ignite is that you get five minutes and 20 slides. I love how smart our collective community is and even more, I love when our community comes together to share their intellect. My friend Max Radi gave a great talk on How to Be Unemployed. It was both insightful and humorous. I am thankful that the talks were filmed, here are some of my favorites:

Hyperbolic Geometry- you have to watch this one, it's just wonderful.

How to Be Unemployed- Max Radi, HIRE HIM!

Love Wikipedia and the Wikipedians that keep it going- DONATE:

I was also gifted 2 tickets to Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps at the Portland Center Stage. I went with my friend Mike Vitellaro; we were both drama kids in high school, so he was a great date. So why should you see it? Well, it's magic on stage. There are only four actors throughout the entire show and their use of props is absolutely amazing. The humor that ran through the entire show was like that of Monty Python, dry and obvious. The show is going on through March 21st, it's a treat, go see it. A big thank you to my friends Michael Schoenfelder and Lindsay Clark for the tickets.

Chatroulette

2010-03-10T13:42:00.000-08:00

I love this video. I love all of Casey's videos, please check them out.

chat roulette from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.

I'm intrigued by Chatroulette, not by what it is now, but by what it could be. What if there were some structure to the site? I love the face-to-face aspect and its randomness. I would love there to be a system of categories so that you could filter the kind of people you might want to have a conversation with. For lack of a better term, I see this as a way to host a digital office hour. I think the categories could be simple like Craigslist. Build in some networks and this service could actually be useful.

What if there was a medical section and doctors volunteered their time to give medical advice? Want a second opinion? Next. What if your professor hosted office hours with this kind of service and you didn't have to wait hours outside of their door to ask your question and show your work? What if a politician hosted conversations with constituents? Or what if there was an option to publicly host your conversation?

I'd like to see topic categories as well as geographical categories. Maybe you want to talk with people in other parts of the world, or maybe you're best audience is within your own town? Maybe this could be a way to share our conversations with one another?

There is a lot of value in face-to-face interaction and I think this idea could go somewhere. Right now it's just a bit disturbing. There's not a lot happening there and it's not constructive.

Social Streams: I'd Like Your Response

2010-02-22T08:20:00.000-08:00

For those of you who use several social media channels, I'd like your response. Recently I posted this on Buzz and I'm looking for more feedback, so please leave a comment with your point of view:

What is everyone's take on streaming the same message into all of your feeds?

For example, do you risk authenticity when streaming your Twitter feed into all of your other networks? (Buzz, Facebook, Linkedin, Blog etc.)

Should or shouldn't we consider each audience and their differences?

Is it okay to send the exact same message through different channels?

First Interview Preview: Ronny Northrop

2010-02-19T14:26:00.000-08:00

"Always bring what you love to do to it." - Ronny Northrop

Well I conducted my first interview for my project this morning with Ronny Northrop and it was really insightful. Ronny was awesome to talk with and he even introduced me to his dog, Josephine, who is adorable.

I can't wait to do more of these. I can already tell that this is definitely going to be one my favorite projects I have done so far.

I'm working on editing the video now and I can't wait until it's ready to share.

Next interview: Paul Isakson

Enjoy

2010-02-17T19:54:00.000-08:00

Some things I've been enjoying lately:

Amazing video. Why? Number one, there is a geodesic dome. Number two, I love shiny things. And Number three, running naked people are all the rage in music videos these days.

Yeasayer "Ambling Alp" from Team G on Vimeo.

Best drum kit ever.

Finn Riggins from Stereopathic on Vimeo.

Pretty sweet effect:

Drift from mustardcuffins on Vimeo.

Being Human

2010-02-17T10:44:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we get so carried away with the day to day that I think we actually forget what it means to be human- saying hello, smiling, genuinely listening, actively being together. I ride the bus a lot, it's one of my favorite places to people watch. Sometimes I get so caught up in observing my ride that I don't become an active participant in the experience. A lot of people do this, in their own ways. Some people check out of the bus ride by listening to their headphones or by getting nose deep into the paper or a book. Sometimes it is as if we're all sitting there, sharing the same experience, but hoping that no one will look directly at us, or heaven forbid talk to us.

One of my favorite things that occasionally happens on my ride is a shift change. The bus driver pulls over to a stop and a new driver gets on to take his place. I enjoy this interaction because it reminds me that the bus driver is human. It is as if I get a sneak into his life for a moment. We get on the bus, we get off the bus, some will talk to the driver, some never notice them... but chances are, they notice you. Today my driver was so kind, he acknowledged each rider individually as they got on and off, he was patient and compassionate with people. And when it was his time to get off, I noticed he took a lot of extra time to brief the new driver about the route, how the day has been so far, what traffic has been like and so on. He then took a moment to turn around and wish each passenger on the bus well. He was genuine and human. Moments like this wake everyone up, out of their trance, reminding us that we are human too.

Jónsi: April 13th

2010-02-16T22:34:00.000-08:00

Jónsi of Sigur Ros is releasing a solo album and is going on tour. He will be at the Roseland on April 13th, and so will I.

Jónsi live show by 59 Productions from Jónsi on Vimeo.

Jónsi is one of the most beautiful artists I have experienced. Every time I see something from him, I am changed.

Here is his latest:

Jónsi - Go Do from Jónsi on Vimeo.

The Way We Eat

2010-02-16T14:12:00.000-08:00

I've been absorbing a lot of information about food lately and I can't stress how important it is that we start thinking more about the way we eat and begin changing our behaviors.

Food, Inc. Everyone should see this documentary:

Jamie Oliver's recent TED Talk: Teach Every Child About Food:

Jonathan Safran Foer's new book: Eating Animals

I am not a vegan, or a vegetarian, and I'm sure there are hundreds reasons why I should be. I'm guilty of the occasional fast food trip and sweets binge. I'm human. I love food and life's indulgences. The point is, we all have to make our own decisions about how we eat. For me that decision is moderation and balance. That decision is to understand where my food comes from and to start supporting the demand of good and wholesome food with every dollar I spend.

What I Should Have Brought to My Interview

2010-02-16T11:25:00.001-08:00

Last week I met with Bruce Yano at Ziba. We had a pretty good interview, but to be honest, I didn't feel like it was my strongest interview. He asked me to email him today with 3 take-aways from our conversation. All I've been thinking about since our meeting is what I should have brought to my interview.

I've been reading an incredible book by Seth Godin called, Linchpin. It's an invaluable call to action- I've recommended it to everyone and I'm not even finished, it's that good. I bring it up because after digging into it, Seth is helping me to realize why my interview didn't go as well as it could have.

Ziba is an innovative design firm that runs on authenticity. So why did I bring my resume? Resumes aren't innovative or authentic. And that's not me; I am not my resume. I will actually retract part of this statement. My resume could be me and it could be authentic, it just isn't right now. I saw a fantastic resume the other day, the kind of resume that makes you wish you would have thought of it. It belongs to Jelly Helm's new design assistant Aaron Rayburn:

This inspires me to rethink the resume process completely. Not to mention, I'm a complete sucker for cartography.

As for my interview with Bruce, in retrospect, here's what I should have brought:

- Ziba is a design firm. I should have been more prepared to talk about design. First thing I should have done is left my inhibitions at the door. I was too afraid that I would say something wrong and step on toes. The truth is that I admire design, I absorb it constantly... I need to learn how to talk about it and with confidence. People have different definitions of design and to some, I may not be a designer. But to me, I am. I am a designer of processes, research and ideas.

- I could have also talked about designers I admire. Like Stefan Sagmeister because he experiments with the unconventional, whether that be etching into his chest to make a statement that you can't ignore, or taking his retirement in yearly increments throughout his life.

Or Deborah Alder, a graphic designer who redesigned the prescription bottle for Target.

The design came from an assignment she was given from Brian Collins while she was at SVU. Collins is another designer who I respect. I first heard about this assignment while in NYC for the One Show where I got to see Collins speak. Alder was given the assignment to bring in a picture of meaning and to write a story about the image. She brought in a picture of her grandparents and told the story of how her grandmother accidentally took her grandfather's prescription and was hospitalized. The next part of the assignment was to take a picture of something within that story. She took a picture of her grandparents' medicine cabinet. The rest is a really smart solution that she sold to Target. Target's pharmacy is better because of it and so are their customers. Design is about solving problems, and that is deeply inspiring to me. It begins with curiosity.

- I should have brought my idea book. I should have had something tangible that shows how I think and express ideas.

- I should have brought a way to share my portfolio.

That could have been as simple as bringing my computer.

- If I were to do this all over again, I'd have a hardcopy leave behind. It would serve as a talking point, it could include pieces of my portfolio, maybe a few of my favorite blog posts, and projects I'm currently working on. I'm working on the idea of my resume and I'm going to come up with a good solution to the leave behind piece.

And as for my 3 main take-aways from Bruce:

1. Be ready. Be ready to talk about Design. Be ready to show. Have confidence.

2. Design and research is about understanding different perspectives. To be good at research, you have to be a designer yourself.

3. Ziba is a family. It's a place to work with talented, smart people who all share a respect for design, meaning and purpose.

A big thanks to Bruce. This experience taught me a lot and I'll be ready for the next interview.

Nike Idea Lab

2010-02-16T10:26:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I spent the afternoon at Nike's Idea Lab and met with director, Jeff Cha.

Photo credits: Phil Gong

I can't believe I didn't snap a few photos while I was there. I think I was just too busy soaking it all in to think about it. Luckly, this fellow blogger did, so I borrowed a few images from him. Next time I'm there, I won't forget.

Idea Lab is research done right. It's a creative and inspiring space. It's located in the old resource library in the Mia Hamm building. The tables are covered in dry erase surface, people gather to brainstorm and concept. There are little rooms for meetings that are designed to stimulate. Everyone works out in the open. There is texture and color everywhere. It's amazing how important design is to inspiring creativity. This kind of space is pure reward and I'd love to work here.

While talking with Jeff, I asked about the kind of projects they work on at Idea Lab. The recipe for success was that they are always working on different projects and new approaches. No day is ever the same. They live in the future because they are always working 12-15 months out. Nothing felt off limits.

Nike, you never fail to awe.

I think Jeff is going to participate in my project in a few weeks, I'm looking forward to sharing his insights with you.

Great Advice From Scott Cromer

2010-02-11T13:28:00.000-08:00

I had lunch with Scott Cromer of Mutt Industries today. He shared some great advice:

"Don't be a planner. Be an idea person. Be a problem solver."

Scott is going to participate in my planner/strategist/creative director interview project... and he is recruiting the other guys at Mutt too. Stay tuned.

New Project: After the Beep

2010-02-10T21:25:00.000-08:00

I'm working on a new project with a group of individuals across the United States and Canada, and even as far as London. We have formed a creative collective called Amazing Compass and we've launched our first project. Right now we are spreading the word and asking for participants. Simply put, we are gathering a collection of voices. It's completely anonymous, all you need to do is call the number provided and share your story. Share any story, happy, sad, humorous, sentimental, ridiculous, you name it. We just want to hear from you.

It's called After the Beep and this is how it works:

Check out the website to hear a few examples. I can't wait to share the final project, we'll need your help to get there.

Google Buzz

2010-02-10T20:18:00.000-08:00

Just when I was getting bored with social media, Google saves the day with Buzz... or not, I'm still making up my mind, but I'm having fun watching its progression. Today Google launched Buzz, which looks like a much more successful approach to their failed attempt at Google Wave. Don't get me wrong, I was really excited about Wave, they just didn't seem to know how to make it work. I was really confused as to why they chose to launch Wave with the invite only method, the same way they did with Gmail? And, on a platform not regularly accessed? If Facebook has taught us anything, it's how to evolve. They introduce features slowly and eventually they feel seamless. Sure it pisses everyone off at first, but that's just because people are uncomfortable with change, even when it's good. Think about it this way, would you really enjoy Facebook to this day if you couldn't stalk pictures of your friends from second grade? I didn't think so. Facebook membership has grown so rapidly, it would be a safe bet to say that a lot of users probably don't remember the time when it was a one photo deal. Things have to change and evolve, or they become irrelevant. I'm happy to see Google evolving and reaching out to their already established network of Gmail users. If I could give Google Buzz two pieces of advice:

1. Don't email me Buzz! I already see when I have new Buzz postings, it's right below my inbox. I don't need it to duplicate into my inbox as well.

2. If someone is going to link blog posts into Buzz, the comment I make on Buzz, or on their blog post should cross-pollinate. Meaning, it should show up in both places no matter where I leave the comment. Especially if it is a Blogger format.

Also of interest, I came across this infographic about facebook from Mashable:

Unemployment is the New Full-Time Job

2010-02-10T18:21:00.000-08:00

Wow, I promised to post everyday and I already took a week off, but I do promise I've been sticking to my commitment to explore, learn and create- I've actually been pretty busy. I've decided that unemployment really is the new full-time job, meaning, I've decided to try and make this work. I've had some more freelance opportunities arise and I am really enjoying meeting new people. Not to say I'm not looking or ready for a more "stable" position, I'm just really interested in the future of work and what that might look like for me. It's a difficult balance for a young person. I'm inspired and pushed when I'm constantly surrounded by a pool of talented people, but I'm also intrigued by the freedom and relationships that come with working solo. Even when you're working alone, there is a huge amount of opportunity to surround yourself with new and interesting people.

On that topic, my search for interview participants is on. I have another interviewee to add to the roster, Paul Isakson. I'm so excited to finally meet and talk with Paul, I've been a long time reader of his blog. My interview with Ronny Northrop is happening soon too, can't wait to get these posted.

I've been really interested in the topic of design thinking lately, and what that means for our industries and how we work. I just finished Marty Neumeier's book, The Designful Company: How to Build a Culture of Nonstop Innovation. It is filled with great stuff, please check it out. For a brief overview, it looks like someone created a highlight video:

One of the things Neumeier said that really stuck with me is that "measurement and imagination are locked in a dance." In other words, to be successful, to be innovative, disciplines must work together seamlessly.

I also attended a talk by Roger Martin last week at Ziba Design about his book, The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage.

Martin also made the case for collaboration as he spoke about the intersection of analytical and intuitive thinking and explained how having a better understanding of both leads to design thinking, which opens the door to innovation (I agree!). Martin associates analytical thinking with reliability and the need to have proven methods for a comfortable working environment. He then associates intuitive thinking with validity and the need for imagination and openness to new ideas- it's not easy to measure or prove what's never been done before. With that, he outlined tips for both kinds of thinkers to better work with one another to grow innovation:

For an intuitive thinker to work in an analytical setting, they have to be willing to design in a hostile environment.

1. Take "design-unfriendliness" as a design challenge

2. Empathize with the "design-unfriendly elements"

3. Speak the language of reliability

4. Use analogies and stories

5. Bite off as little piece as possible to generate proof

And for an analytical thinker to thrive in an intuitive setting, they have to know how to leverage design in business.

1. Take inattention to reliability as a management challenge

2. Empathize with the "reliability-unfriendly elements"

3. Speak the language of validity

4. Share data and reasoning, not conclusions

5. Bite off as big a piece as possible to give innovation a chance

Needless to say, the talk was extremely interesting and Ziba hosted a lovely event. I was fortunate to visit Ziba again this week. I've always been interested in Ziba and I was happy to see their workspace first hand. I really love that they have war rooms for each client, I also really liked the open work space. I didn't take any pictures, but if you check out their facebook page, they have some pictures of their space and events.

Advice for Single Ladies

2010-02-03T09:24:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure where to credit these fabulous gems, my friend Brandon stumbled upon them and sent them my way. They are an absolute crack up, enjoy:

Cargo

2010-01-31T15:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Josh and I rode our bikes to the Pearl to look around at Cargo and a few other shops.

Here are some of the items I enjoyed:

Lemonade

2010-01-29T17:19:00.001-08:00

This is a good reminder, see this documentary:

Unemployed Day 5,6,7

2010-01-28T08:35:00.000-08:00

Don't worry everyone, still unemployed, still working on staying busy during this "sabbatical." I don't think I've worked long enough to earn a sabbatical yet. I've been staying pretty busy looking for awesome jobs (if you're reading this and you're an awesome job, look no further... I'm ready for you).

Wednesday night I attended AMA's Professional Development panel with my friend Stacy. The panel included: the director of Filter Mark LeBlanc, the creative recruiter at Wieden+Kennedy Lauren Ranke, and the talent scout for Nike's global marketing Jen Jacobs. The evening was a great refresher for me and the speakers were all full of great things to say. Best advice I walked away with:

Find the people who make you jealous and surround yourself with them. Talent always pushes you to be better.
It's hard not to act desperate when you are desperate, but treat your job search like a relationship.
Learn how to edit yourself, be relevant and interesting.
Don't pretend that the social web doesn't exist, it does, learn how to use it. The best quote from this topic of discussion came from Lauren:

"Twitter is like this river of information and it just keeps flowing and flowing and you can dip your cup in and drink from it whenever you want, it's that simple."

The speakers did a great job of being relevant and interesting. It's a hard time and can be an even harder time if you're a junior, that's another thing they touched on. Everyone is looking for a high-level of experience and how do you get that?

Well friends, that brings me back to my sabbatical. Maybe I haven't worked long enough to earn it, but it's definitely a blessing. I have learned a lot of tools and now I have a lot of time to put them to use.

So, yesterday I had my good friend Max over for lunch. He's in a similar boat and so we're teaming up and I now have another new project started. It's one I've had going in my head for a while, but I'm really excited to have some partners on the project and to see how collaborating will grow the idea. I'll share more once it gets going.

Other things I've been doing to stay busy? Eating a lot of content. Tons of it.

I've really been enjoying this video from WKE.

I just wish they made it easier to share- why no embedding link? I think that's the best way to share content... they do have a download button, but it doesn't work. Anyway, check it out, I wish I would have thought of it. They did do one really great thing for sharing, they uploaded all of the images onto Flickr, so you can download them and reorder the content however you like. Love it. Okay, I would love it. But I just checked their Flickr link and nothing is uploaded yet. Hmmm... it would be awesome to see if people remediate it.

UPDATE
The video was uploaded to Youtube, enjoy:

Maybe I'm a little late on this, but Natalie shared this video today and it's great. The Internet works in mysterious ways:

Alright, ready for the weekend. Going exploring... where? I don't know yet, but let's hope the weather holds out.

Unemployed Day 4: Getting Stuff Done

2010-01-26T23:10:00.000-08:00

Today I attempted to install a procrastinator's worst enemy into my Firefox. It's called LeechBlock and it allows you to successfully lock yourself out of websites for set periods of time. Yes, I have a problem, it's called Facebook. Don't pretend like it's not your problem too. I tried the add-on out for 10 minutes and it worked just as it was supposed to. I would say try it out for yourself, only for some reason my Firefox is now completely dysfunctional and I'm back to Safari. So... until that's figured out, I'm practicing self-control.

I met again with my freelancer friends to think more about organizing a creative collective. We're brainstorming projects. I'm pumped to have people to work with. Outside of school, it can be hard to find good partners to build your portfolio with, so this is really refreshing.

I'm working on the project I mentioned yesterday, the one I have yet to come up with a name for. But, I am very pleased to announce that my first interview will be with the Creative Director of Agency Culture at Goodby, Silverstein and Partners, Ronny Northrop. I met Ronny at the One Club's student portfolio show last spring and had a great conversation. I'm really looking forward to catching up and I think Ronny will be the perfect guy to kick off my interview series.

Buckminster Fuller: The Lost Interviews DVD #2 arrives in the mail tomorrow from Netflix. Excited to finish up that series, and looking forward to a good reflection. By the way, if you haven't tried Netflix, you really, really should. I love it. A lot.

Unemployed Day 3: A Collective of Sorts

2010-01-25T20:39:00.001-08:00

Being unemployed has its perks. There is a lot more time for spontaneous collaboration. This morning I met up with a few friends and fellow freelancers (when I say fellow, I am implying that I am going to try my own hand at the life of a freelancer, for now).

We're getting together to start a collective of sorts. It's still in the works, so I can't spill the beans just yet.

I've also started working on a new project, which will be progressing over a few months. I've made it my goal to get to know this industry better, to understand where it's going and to learn about the people in it. I am going to be interviewing creative directors, planners of all sorts and strategists. I'm particularly interested in the planners and strategists because these roles are often somewhat elusive. I plan on filming my interviews and sharing what I learn. I think this will be a valuable tool to students and juniors. It will also be extremely valuable to me in my own process. So far I already have my first two interviewees lined up and I can't wait.

If you know someone I should talk to, or if you would like me to talk with you, feel free to contact me: ashlystewart@gmail.com

Unemployed Day 2: Bucky's Mind Part One

2010-01-22T17:02:00.000-08:00

Psychic Phenomena from universe on Vimeo.

This morning I spent a few hours with "Buckminster Fuller: The Lost Interviews," which comes from a series done by Damien Simpson on his 70s show Psychic Phenomena.

About a week ago I read the Wikipedia entry about Bucky and realized I really wanted to know more. I'm still digesting the first interview, but I have to say, I am very taken with Buckminster's philosophy and blown away by all this man knows. I'll post a full review once I finish the interviews.

I also got to spend lunch with Mark Rukman. Mark and I crossed paths during our time at ID Branding. It was great to work with Mark for the short time we had. Brand strategy and account planning are two different things, something I will be diving more into with my time off. Mark is a great account planner, and I am glad to have him as a friend.

Finished the day by baking some delicious cookies.

Yeah, they really are as good as they look :)

Unemployed Day 1: It Begins

2010-01-21T15:08:00.000-08:00

Okay, so it's not really the first day I have been unemployed, but today I have made a decision to use my unemployed days wisely. I can't tell you how often I have heard, "If only I didn't have to work everyday, I would get so much done!" So I consider myself lucky. I have some valuable time off and until I have the privilege of working again, I am going to make the best of it.

Everyday I am going to learn, explore and create, and post is all right here.

And... here I go.

Seth Godin: Linchpin

2010-01-14T11:50:00.000-08:00

Seth Godin talks to PSFK about his new book Linchpin:

Don't do your job, do the work.

Another great review.

Technology

2010-01-13T07:46:00.000-08:00

This is really amazing.

Relationships Based on Authenticity

2010-01-13T07:19:00.001-08:00

I took this image from Paul Isakson's presentation regarding behavior on the social web. If you haven't checked it out, I would recommend it.

Looking for Love:

2010-01-12T17:27:00.001-08:00

Ashly is seeking a mentor, also referred to as a teacher.

Agencies are like relationships and I am back on the market. I'm going to be optimistic about this layoff. I'm looking for new opportunities and I'm excited to see what relationships will grow from this.

TODAY'S THEME:

BE INDISPENSABLE, NIMBLE AND FEARLESS.

Onward.

Also, my new site is going up soon.

I Love Experiments.

2010-01-10T10:15:00.000-08:00

This is a really fun and brilliant idea...

Blu Dot Real Good Experiment from Real Good Chair on Vimeo.

Best. Promotion. Ever.
I wish I found that chair.

The Post-Crisis Consumer

2010-01-06T15:01:00.000-08:00

The Power of Yes

2009-12-31T13:28:00.000-08:00

The Girl Who Scilenced the World for 5 Minutes

2009-12-31T12:34:00.001-08:00

The Girl Who Scilenced the World for 5 Minutes:
You are what you do, not what you say you do.

The Teens' Speech

2009-12-31T09:56:00.000-08:00

A wonderful project from the UK's Barnardo's and Poke London.

The Teens Speech - Official Premiere

The Teens' Speech | MySpace Video

Jesus can walk on water, but Chuck Norris can swim through land.

2009-12-22T18:27:00.000-08:00

Some of you may remember last year's tree. But this year... even better.

This year's tree is a gem alright.

Say hello to Morgan Freeman.

The Future

2009-12-04T10:34:00.000-08:00

Some great stuff from some smart people.

Interview with Rishad Tobaccowala on advertising’s digital and social media future by Simon Mainwaring:

Interview with Simon Mainwaring:

The Future of Work:

The Future Of Work

View more documents from Jeff Brenman.

What's Next in Advertising:

What's Next (2009) UBA 60 Edition

View more documents from Paul Isakson.

Creating Advocacy and Conversation:

How to create advocacy and conversation, Planning-ness 2009

View more documents from Frank Striefler.

And this required reading via Deb Morrison.

Today's Thoughts

2009-12-02T15:24:00.001-08:00

It's GORGEOUS outside.

My New Job

2009-11-10T21:49:00.000-08:00

I guess I wrote all about my internship when I first got it, but I think I failed to mention that I was promoted from intern to Associate Brand Strategist at ID Branding. It's been a really interesting ride and I've already worn multiple hats. Everyday is an adventure and everyday I learn something new. I find myself really humbled at ID in a way I never imagined. ID Branding is a small agency with some really big ideas.

When I was in school we often talked about what kind of agency is right for you and how do you find out what you're good at and what you love. But we would sometimes forget to talk about the bigger change that happens after school-

Let's face it, when you're in school you get pretty used to running the show and it's easy to be part of the alpha team. The day you graduate, that's the day you stop running the show (that's not a bad thing). When you step out into the real world (no matter what kind of real world experience you have had before), you're no longer the one in control and you become part of a cog. If you get into a good cog then you're considered a teammate, but if you're not so lucky, well... no one knows your name until you've been around for at least 5 or so years. I am really lucky that my cog invites me to be a teammate. And it's not up to one person to make it all work, it's up to everyone to make everyone else better. Yes, yes at the end of the day, it's all about the work, but what is even more important than the work? The process. Today we talked about the process of a strategist with Melissa Day, our head strategist and mentor to the associate brand strategists. I think I landed in a really great place and here is the proof:

What Makes a Good Strategist
By Melissa Day

1. Good strategists are able to discern when subjectivity is necessary, and when objectivity is necessary, and know the difference between them.

Both divorce themselves and their personal opinions (objective)

Place themselves in the situation and understand what is relevant, and what isn’t (subjective)

2. Good strategists are able to be macro and micro at the same time.

Asking questions of what is around them, identifying patterns, and then picking up on subtle nuances

Able to apply them in different context, understanding how the principles transfer

3. Good strategists are able to live in the past, the present, and the future.

And relate it together and see patterns.

Understand how what happened prior influences the present, and hypothesize about how it will determine the future.

4. Good strategists are able to live in ambiguity.

Strategy is like a creative process. It is the birthing of a thought, a concept, while staring directly at a blank page.

There are a lot of unknowns. My process is to get exposed to as much stimuli as possible. But like design, there is often that pivotal insight, quote, image that forms the basis for my strategic insight. That is what I’m searching for. And often I go away to formulate it.

Strategy doesn’t happen at the computer. It happens in the bathroom, the car, on the sidewalk.

5. Good strategists are able to trust their gut.

Strategy is an art and a science. 30% fact/70% gut

Establishing a filter that helps you find the key pivotal insight and know that it’s right

6. Good strategists have many different experiences (and often careers), but understand how the principles translate.

Having very different points of view to bring to the table.

This year, I am going to be dedicated to being a sponge, to being curious, and to asking more questions.

Wolf and Pig

2009-11-06T14:22:00.000-08:00

This is an amazing stop motion!

Here is another great video in the same style:

Fifty People, One Question

2009-10-15T08:26:00.000-07:00

Fifty People, One Question: London from Fifty People, One Question on Vimeo.

Beautifully done!

The Fun Theory

2009-10-14T23:36:00.001-07:00

Hmmmm... There is really something here. This idea can go so many places!

Strategy

2009-10-12T23:14:00.001-07:00

Loving this from my friend Nicole. She is off in London with WK Platform and learning all kinds of things. Check out her blog for the full download of her notes, but here are some of the highlights from Paul Coleman:

-With no strategy, it’s just art.

-Don’t count the people you reach, reach the people that count

-Don’t take what people are doing & just reflect it back – lead, inspire, guide them where to go.

-Find the truth, tell it delightfully

-Dig. Talk to real people

-You shouldn’t have to explain why it’s good. You should feel it.

-Don’t obsess over insights

-Strategy IS execution.

Keep sharing Nicole, so proud of you!

Oregon Humanities

2009-10-05T20:33:00.000-07:00

Digging this. Great work from Jelly Helm for Oregon Humanities.

The Web as Random Acts of Kindness

2009-09-29T23:27:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Life

2009-09-27T19:39:00.000-07:00

A Scientific Treat

2009-09-25T19:11:00.000-07:00

Carl Sagan - 'A Glorious Dawn' ft Stephen Hawking (Cosmos Remixed)

Infomercials Never Die

2009-09-16T16:05:00.000-07:00

Awesome. I have always been addicted to infomercials. They are awesome. I like guessing how much they will slash the price towards the end. I love that they are a great excuse to cast absolutely ridiculous people. I love that my father actually bought an Abtronic and walked around the house shocking his abdomen. Here are two previews of some good ones I have seen recently, thanks vacation!

"Mmm! This is delicious! My taste buds is going wild! You were right, Darla! That was fast!"

Analog Blog Part II: What is OUR Brand Culture?

2009-09-03T09:49:00.000-07:00

If you have checked out my blog recently, you might remember my Analog Blog experiment. I think it went over pretty well!

Here are some responses from the Analog Blog:

The response I thought was the most interesting:

So we brought it up in our last few Brown Bag meetings:
Redington happens to be one of our clients and we can thank them for the matching outfits.

We are pretty good at explaining brand culture to our clients, but we were having a hard time articulating what our own brand culture was, and so we spent some extra time talking about it. In fact, two of our Brown Bags and one Company Conversation was dedicated to it. Here are my notes after yesterday's Brown Bag, I think we are getting somewhere.

Our brand culture is about conversation, community and discourse. It's about partnerships and working together to bring forth internal and external congruency, for our clients and ourselves. It's about honoring trust, respect, process and thoughtfulness. It's pretty a pretty good culture if you ask me.

After all, this is what Full Sail had to say about it:

Is That Art?

2009-08-26T20:56:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to see a screening in Portland for the documentary, Died Young, Stayed Pretty. It was a really interesting look into the world of poster making. I myself have always had a love for posters and I find myself fascinated by the artwork done for the shows of my favorite bands. I guess it was always something I was curious about and I didn't really know where it was all coming from.

Overall, I would say this film was pretty good and did a great job focusing on the artists- those who have actually been the unknown part of the poster subculture. I loved that it gave them a face and a voice, but there were some other things I would have liked to seen in the film. I would have liked to have seen the fans, the people who collect posters to better understand what it means to them and if they were connecting to the message or not (maybe that just wasn't the point of the film though). I would have liked to have seen a point of view from the people who oppose posters (this was brought up, but not really explored). I really enjoyed the shots of production and the look into the ink factory, I would have loved a more detailed look at the process, but I can't say it wasn't there- I just would have preferred more.

The director Eileen Yaghoobian and some of the artists featured in the film held a discussion panel after the screening which was also interesting. A major topic up for discussion was whether or not poster making was an art form because of its use of borrowed content (remediation of images, the name of the band if they weren't being commissioned etc). It was hard to tell where to draw the line- If it was art, could it be a commodity or is it simply a gift to the public? If it's not art, does that change anything?

This thinking led me to a book I have been meaning to get to and I finally began reading it today.

The Gift by Lewis Hyde
Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World:

Because I am only 20 pages in, I am completely unable to provide any real synopsis of meaning; however, according to the introduction, Hyde aims to discuss the theory of "the gift" by exploring the idea of art as a gift and the problem with the market, through the study and criticism of cultural anthropology, philosophy, storytelling and ethnography... and probably more.

"The first half of this book is a theory of gift exchange and the second is an attempt to apply the language of that theory to the life of the artist."

I have a lot of thinking, reading and absorbing ahead of me- I am excited for this book, I have no idea why I have waited so long to read it.

Russell Davies: How to be Interesting

2009-08-17T21:38:00.001-07:00

Russell Davies came to the UO once and he changed our lives forever. This advice became so valuable to our program, we found ourselves coming back to it time and time again. When Andrea and I were getting ready to lead Allen Hall Advertising our senior year, we gave everyone a moleskin to use as an idea book and included Russell's timeless advice. As I was cleaning my room, I came across the moleskin and the paper and thought I should share.

Incase it's hard to read from the scan:
1. Take at least one picture everyday. Post it to flickr.
2. Start a blog. Write at least one sentence every week.
3. Keep a scrapbook.
4. Every week, read a magazine you’ve never read before.
5. Once a month interview someone for 20 minutes, work out how to make them interesting. Podcast it.
6. Collect something.
7. Once a week sit in a coffee-shop or cafe for an hour and listen to other people’s conversations. Take notes. Blog about it. (Carefully)
8. Every month write 50 words about one piece of visual art, one piece of writing, one piece of music and one piece of film or TV. Do other art forms if you can. Blog about it.
9. Make something.
10. Read.

Thank you, Russell Davies!

The Coolest Thing on Youtube

2009-08-14T07:43:00.001-07:00

The Year of Tomorrow: A Ronald Chevalier Fanfiction for Gentlemen Broncos

Gooooood morning!

High five Jared Hess.

He also directed one of my favorite Wexley moments:

Ballmer Lab: Always a Special Place in My Heart

2009-08-13T07:33:00.000-07:00

2 am in Ballmer lab.... often called for ridiculous chair dancing.. or Disney sing-alongs.

Good times.

You People Impress Me

2009-08-11T13:52:00.001-07:00

The one man band... Holy crap. Music is the most wonderful gift, completely blows me away. Check out Theresa Andersson, she is absolutely amazing.

Beautiful.

I Dated W+K London for 3 Minutes

2009-08-01T22:23:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Optimism!
-W+K London

This is from some notes I took when Richard Ward came to hang out with us one day last year, at the UO. Richard is a good friend of the "family" within the SOJC advertising program. Each year he puts on the Executive in Residency program, which allows us to spend quality time with interesting professionals in the industry, bringing them to the UO for a week long stay. Because of Richard's tremendous support and belief in our program, I have had the pleasure of working with Russell Davies, Nils Anderson, Kevin Swanepol, and Merry Baskin during my time at the SOJC. Anyway, getting back to the quote, I also had the pleasure of getting to know Richard. He is one of the good people who has taught me that you have got to think positively in this business, breath optimism and to never be an asshole.

I came back to this thought as I was flying home to Portland today. I was trying to think of ways I could sum up the last few days, and I found this quote appropriate. Why? Because on Friday I had the privilege of dating W+K London for 3 whole minutes in NYC! Speed dating that is! Well, the speed dating was just part of it- I was honored to participate in the Platform US open day. Out of 187 applicants, 40 were invited back for open day (which also took place in London and through the almighty powers of the interweb).

The day was really a great experience. Walking into a room at W+K to see your work hanging on the wall was one of those moments that make you pinch yourself a little and ask, "Is this real?"

Sam and Lucy were our hosts and what an incredible pair. Sam has this infectious personality, she is confident and put together, and genuine. Lucy is down to earth, thoughtful and really observant. She is also a female creative director, what a dream come true! The words female and creative director aren't often used in the same sentence and it's really exciting for me whenever I meet women who have made it happen. It's always exciting to meet strong women in the industry and these two were striking examples. Both funny, with a strong vision and extremely passionate about what they do- very inspiring individuals.

Everyone who participated in the day really blew me away too. I was surprised that 7 strangers who are all very different people could work so well together. We were broken up into groups to work on a brief for 45 minutes. The brief: How can Nokia help spread awareness of Peace One Day to 3 billion people by 2012. Yeah, no big deal. It was like someone saying, "Hey, go solve world peace, we'll meet back here in 45..." =) Reminded me of a good ol' Deb assignment, "Hey, go change the world." (the exciting news is, we are going to change the world)

The day didn't feel like a day of competition, rather it felt like a day to celebrate our opportunities and to of course, put the work first. By the end of the day everyone felt like a friend and that is important. So my biggest take away from the day? The more I dive into this industry, the more I see how interconnected it is. It's most important to make good friends and that is all this day was, an opportunity to meet good people.

At the end of the day, we had our speed dating session. One at a time we were asked three questions with one minute to answer, and that my friends, is how I dated W+K London for three magical minutes.

Side note:
This was a great application process. I wonder what would happen if all jobs required this kind of dedication and thoughtfulness rather than a simple resume?

Update: I didn't make Platform this time around. But the good news, I will continue speed dating... let me know if you want my number ;)

Congratulations to my dear friend Nicole Karalekas who will be moving to London town in a month!!

This Is Good Advice

2009-07-23T11:46:00.000-07:00

"I only have learned from doing things the wrong way mostly
...and it still worked out for me" -Jelly Helm

Analog Blog

2009-07-22T19:17:00.000-07:00

Today we had another Brown Bag Lunch at ID Branding. These company conversations are really interesting to me, especially as an intern. Today's topic was more focused around our own internal culture and was in response to the agency's blog, and a particular post specifically (that has since been removed). The post wasn't removed because it was wrong or inappropriate, but was maybe just poor timing and not necessarily reflecting what everyone felt. What sparked today was a conversation about understanding and living our brand culture. We talk about brand culture a lot, it's what our agency is all about, it's our philosophy and it's what we deeply believe. On the topic of blogging, not a lot of people are blogging on the ID Branding blog, even though there is a desire for the conversation to reach a wider audience within the agency. What we found out today was that not everyone likes to blog or cares to share their thoughts with an audience in a published manor.

So I came up with a solution that I hope will have everyone speaking openly, sharing creatively and spreading ideas! The solution? The Analog Blog. There is this awesome room in the back of our office that really doesn't get a lot of use... and I have no idea why?! It's a great room! I learned today that its name is Bon Vivant. Bon Vivant used to be the room near the kitchen, before that space was leased out, but the name stayed in the office. And so lives Bon Vivant!

Bon Vivant has a chalk wall, a massage chair, a whiteboard, tons of books and these great yellow curtains in the doorway.

At first I thought I would adopt it as my own personal office, maybe hire another intern to do preform my responsibilities and then I would have time to conquer the world. Anyway, I let that day dream go and instead, I turned it into an open forum space for the agency. I hope it will become a place to share ideas, post thoughts and in return we can document our process and by doing so, create content for the blog that is truly owned by everyone.

Here's the start:

I'm excited about this. I sent out an email and left everyone an invitation to the Analog Blog on their desk this afternoon. It was around for an hour and is already getting some love.

Alternative Transportation

2009-07-22T18:58:00.000-07:00

Every day I catch a ride to my internship with my parents and then have them pick me up at the end of the day on their way home. It starts feeling a bit like high school, especially when my mom packs my lunch and puts it in a brown bag. I am not complaining, all of this is great- carpooling is good for the environment and lunches from mom are just wonderful! But this last week, it's gotten even better- I am at an all time high as far as transportation methods go.

My internship granted me a bus pass, which is AWESOME. This way I don't always have to ride home with my parents and it gives me a lot more flexibility downtown, especially because I can take the MAX and streetcar. I feel as if I have regained some sense of independence.

Next, I convinced my parents to listen to the radio in the morning... and not just any radio, they even approved the 94.7 Eight at 8:00. We've also been listening to NPR a lot, so to say the least, the morning commute is going well.

Now the icing on the cake. Not just one, but two days in a row, my mom gave me $5!! I think I'll retire when they do, life is good.

WK Platform Application Video

2009-07-10T23:55:00.000-07:00

I have been working on the WK Platform brief, here is my entry:

You can find Project One: The DMV here

and here

UPDATE:
I made the first cut for Platform and I am participating in the final interviews next week in NYC! I am so excited! I am also excited that my friends have started stealing and sending me airplane safety instructions! I got a set today!! THANKS KIM =)