if every big time advertiser partnered with one or more charities and gave the cause just :05 attention on their TV or digital ads, think about the much needed attention that charity would get.
Archive | March, 2013
those big decisions
9 Marnow that i think about it, i was always driven by inspiration and passion.
i was far from an all star all “a’ student in high school.
in fact, i don’t even remember caring to be one. that seems like such a sin to say out loud in a day and age where high school kids are half way through college courses before they even get out of high school. but it wasn’t a priority in my family. in fact, it wasn’t even important to stay at the same school. i went to two different grade schools and three different high schools – all in different states.
do you have any clue what it’s like to be the new person in school – even once?
if you don’t, it is an entirely different challenge than getting good grades. you want to fit in but you’re new, so first you have to figure out what fitting in means. for some reason, that was always important to me – fitting in. i can see where that wouldn’t be a need for everyone – especially someone who went to school with the same people their entire student life. but it was for me. i made some great friends through the years but unfortunately for me, i was always moving on to the next adventure.
when it was time for me to go to college – the wanting to excel at school thing still hadn’t kicked off in me yet. and i went to the university of cincinnati to be close to my grandma whom i loved beyond belief. but unfortunately she died a week before my high school graduation and i had to go there without her being in cincinnati which was a very sad time for me. but once again, it was time to fit in yet again. and i met some awesome friends and had too much fun. so much so that i couldn’t go back the next year. i moved home and went to a community college for one semester.
it was there that i made probably one of the most important decisions of my life.
deflated and not really encouraged to do anything, i decided for myself that i wanted more. i wanted much more and education was a part of it. i took some advanced english courses in high school and my teacher told me back then that i would love columbia college in downtown chicago. i remembered that and contacted the teacher – now a year later – and got the name of that school. mom and i rode the commuter train together to downtown chicago and walked the eight blocks to michigan and harrison street to the school. this by far, was out of my comfort zone and i loved it.
next was deciding what i wanted to do. one thing i loved more than anything was magazines. you can read more about that here. and the ads in the magazine WORKED ON ME. that is when i decided i wanted to be in advertising. and the school i was now standing in front of was an excellent school for marketing communications. it may not have been a top 10 school and i may have to live at home and miss out on all the great sorority life and hee haw of college. risk possibly becoming even more far removed from my friends who all went away. but now i had passion and direction and ever since that decision I HAVE NEVER LOOKED BACK.
to be continued…
things to love today
3 Marthere are so many little things to love, here are a few things i’m loving right now…
1. portlandia.
this show tickles me. carrie & fred are my new best friends after flying around the country with them on my ipad. it pokes fun at portland in a lovable, hysterical way. they love the city, love working with each other and i’m so happy i stumbled upon them! this humor isn’t for everyone. you are either the kind that won’t get this at all, won’t think it is funny or smile constantly throughout the whole episode like i do. like check out the opening song here.
2. one kings lane
there are a crazy ton of shopping sites out there and quite honestly, i’m a huge amazon fan. nothing like buying something you don’t need without leaving your bed. and getting it the next day. there is joss & main and the foundry and rue la la. but one kings lane, in my estimation is the best. kinda addicted. this site has been around for a while – so nothing new here – but i have ordered several awesome things from this site with great success. it is reminiscent to going to searching through a flea market but on-line and everything is great – not crap.
ok. so nothing like a flea market.
3. detroit
to say i love detroit would not be doing my feelings justice. after hearing for years and years about the “dreaded” transfer to detroit or just people wrinkling up their nose when you mention it’s name – i really didn’t expect to be so taken. the most notable thing about detroit and the areas surrounding detroit is that the people here love it here. not just like it. love it. we have people at my office who live downtown or in midtown (same thing to me) who absolutely glow with pride talking about the places to eat and things to do. i love that.
what’s even more important to note is that detroit isn’t just something to be surprised by but i’m even ashamedly in awe of some of the despair – spray painted buildings because they are somehow beautiful. it’s not enough to stop there because the point that i’m at – that moves me to HELP detroit is that after watching this documentary – detropia – is that detroit is not detroit’s problem – it’s our entire country’s problem. just like the country rallies around new orleans post-katrina and new york post-sandy – the country needs to rally around detroit. everything exciting, big and great started from this city otherwise know as motown and the motor city. it was built to hold the millions that lived here but now it’s only 700,000 spread out all over the city. we need help and i want to be a part of the upswing of this wonderful city!
i think anthony bourdain said it best:
Anthony Bourdain’s blog, July 27: Detroit. Where just about everything cool originated. As angry as one gets looking at block after block of abandoned row houses in Baltimore and wondering how the hell that happened, it’s mind boggling to see how far Detroit has been allowed to fall. But what a truly magnificent breed of crazy-ass hardcase characters have dug in there. Of all three cities we visited, Detroit, oddly enough, even while looking the jaws of death straight in the face, remains closest to being a true culinary wonderland. This is due entirely to the successive waves of migration and immigration from all over the world, when people came to MAKE things in America — each group bringing their own food and traditions. Detroit IS the story of America, for better — and worse, and I think we’ve missed that, allowed ourselves to look away. Detroit, after all, made us who we are. Literally. A country of cars, highways, car culture, upward mobility, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and what were once, unlimited dreams. Whatever happens next, Motown, Eminem and the Stooges’ “Fun House”, at least, shall surely outlast the automobile.
of course, those from detroit are thinking – yeah – well said from your toasty home in birmingham. well just you wait.
the long abandoned beautiful train station
that’s it for now. have a great week!