â┚¬Å”Die when I may, I want it said by those who knew me best that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.â┚¬Â Ã¢â”šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ Abraham Lincoln
So how was your weekend? Mine was all about my man. You see he was in Orlando Sentinel on Saturday for an ongoing project he has of taking discarded chairs and making them into seating at Lynx bus stops. The vast majority of Lynx stops don't have a place for people to sit, so Brendan's inspired project has touched many Orlandoans, not to mention people from elsewhere, thanks to the internet.
Let me tell you, if I have to hear one more glowing comment read aloud from Facebook or the Sentinel website, I'll probably run screaming naked into Virginia/Mills traffic. If you'd like to catch the show, I'm sure there will be a Sit Project chair nearby to pull up.
Seriously though, Joseph Freeman, not one word about the man in his life? The man who has to put up with a stack of derelict chairs in his sideyard. The man who runs around the house picking up rolls of leopard-print duct tape before company comes over. The man who has been trying to figure out how to remove spary paint from the front porch without taking the house paint with it. What about that guy, Freeman? Who's the hero now!?
All jesting aside, click here to go to the article which is accompanied by an adorable video of my well-spoken other half. You'll see why I'm the luckiest guy in the world.
Consider that your bonus Ripple, because I've got more!
Putting a Face on Charity
Art heals, inspires
Brendan isn't the only one making it into Orlando Sentinel, our friend Ryan Wollard was recently mentioned in Terry Hummel's art weekly art column for his Charity Paintings. Ryan paints portraits of inspirational people (albeit sometimes in the eye of the inspired), then the person buying the painting says what charity they'd like the money to go to. You can find out more by visiting the Charity Paintings Facebook page or Etsy page.
I recently asked Ryan to paint a portrait of Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki for the Scottie Saves the World chair for this year's Red Chair Affair. You can see pictures of the finished product here. In the next few weeks you'll be able to bid on the chair to help raise money for the Arts & Cultural Alliance.
His Insights are a Wonderland
John Mayer 2011 Clinic â┚¬â€œ â┚¬Å”Manage the Temptation to Publish Yourselfâ┚¬ÂÂ
There are many interesting things in this blog about John Mayer visiting his alma mater, Berklee College of Music. John warns the students against self-promotion because it wound up being the focus for him. Considering the fact that saying dumb things on Twitter got John in hot water, it makes his statements even more intriguing. Naturally this Ripple will particular speak to musicians and artists in my readership, but I think the social media trap is pause for reflection for all of us. Are we fully experiencing something if we're thinking about how to tell people about it on Twitter? Can our social media campaign distract us from fully developing our businesses?
Supersizing Philanthropy
Selfish Giving
Joe Waters co-authored the book Cause Marketing for Dummies which will be out soon (his blog says July, when I pre-ordered from Amazon it said August), but you can get a good helping of his wisdom from his blog. What is cause marketing? Let's say you go to your favorite barbecue place and you can get your meal served on a pink plate that you can take home to benefit the fight against breast cancer. Basically Joe takes a look at whether these schemes are beneficial for all involved. Not too long ago, he blogged about a Kentucky Fried Chicken fail where the company was donating money to fight juvenile diabetes if you bought a huge ass soda.
