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corona-de-vil · 4 years

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September 9, 2020

This is our President. A liar. A traitor. How many lives have been needlessly lost? Don’t ever let anyone convince you he’s a good man or a good leader. They are delusional, no matter who they are. Remember that girls.

https://apple.news/ARjAaA4_DTBe6cYMAQ67rPg

President Trump’s head popped up during his top-secret intelligence briefing in the Oval Office on Jan. 28 when the discussion turned to the novel coronavirus outbreak in China.

“This will be the biggest national security threat you face in your presidency,” national security adviser Robert O’Brien told Trump, according to a new book by Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward. “This is going to be the roughest thing you face.”

Matthew Pottinger, the deputy national security adviser, agreed. He told the president that after reaching contacts in China, it was evident that the world faced a health emergency on par with the flu pandemic of 1918, which killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide.

Ten days later, Trump called Woodward and revealed that he thought the situation was far more dire than what he had been saying publicly.

“You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed,” Trump said in a Feb. 7 call. “And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flu.”

“This is deadly stuff,” the president repeated for emphasis.

At that time, Trump was telling the nation that the virus was no worse than a seasonal flu, predicting it would soon disappear, and insisting that the U.S. government had it totally under control. It would be several weeks before he would publicly acknowledge that the virus was no ordinary flu and that it could be transmitted through the air.

Trump admitted to Woodward on March 19 that he deliberately minimized the danger. “I wanted to always play it down,” the president said.

Aside from exploring Trump’s handling of the pandemic, Woodward’s new book, “Rage,” covers race relations, diplomacy with North Korea and a range of other issues that have arisen during the past two years.

The book also includes brutal assessments of Trump’s conduct from former defense secretary Jim Mattis, former director of national intelligence Daniel Coats and others.

The book is based in part on 18 on-the-record interviews Woodward conducted with the president between December and July. Woodward writes that other quotes in the book were acquired through “deep background” conversations with sources in which information is divulged and exchanges recounted without sources being named.

“Trump never did seem willing to fully mobilize the federal government and continually seemed to push problems off on the states,” Woodward writes. “There was no real management theory of the case or how to organize a massive enterprise to deal with one of the most complex emergencies the United States had ever faced.”

Woodward questioned Trump repeatedly about the national reckoning on racial injustice. On June 3, two days after federal agents forcibly removed peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square to make way for Trump to stage a photo opportunity outside St. John’s Episcopal Church, Trump called Woodward to boast about his “law and order” stance.

“We’re going to get ready to send in the military slash National Guard to some of these poor bastards that don’t know what they’re doing, these poor radical lefts,” Trump said.

In a second conversation, on June 19, Woodward asked the president about White privilege, noting that they were both White men of the same generation who had privileged upbringings. Woodward suggested that they had a responsibility to better “understand the anger and pain” felt by Black Americans.

“No,” Trump replied, his voice described by Woodward as mocking and incredulous. “You really drank the Kool-Aid, didn’t you? Just listen to you. Wow. No, I don’t feel that at all.”

As Woodward pressed Trump to understand the plight of Black Americans after generations of discrimination, inequality and other atrocities, the president kept answering by pointing to economic numbers such as the pre-pandemic unemployment rate for Blacks and claiming, as he often has publicly, that he has done more for Blacks than any president except perhaps Abraham Lincoln.

In another conversation about race, on July 8, Trump complained about his lack of support among Black voters. “I’ve done a tremendous amount for the Black community,” he told Woodward. “And, honestly, I’m not feeling any love.”

They spoke again about race relations on June 22, when Woodward asked Trump whether he thinks there is “systemic or institutional racism in this country.”

“Well, I think there is everywhere,” Trump said. “I think probably less here than most places. Or less here than many places.”

Asked by Woodward whether racism “is here” in the United States in a way that affects people’s lives, Trump replied, “I think it is. And it’s unfortunate. But I think it is.”

Trump shared with Woodward visceral reactions to several prominent Democrats of color. Upon seeing a shot of Sen. Kamala D. Harris of California, now the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, calmly and silently watching him deliver his State of the Union address, Trump remarked, “Hate! See the hate! See the hate!” Trump used the same phrase after an expressionless Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) appeared in the frame

Trump was dismissive about former president Barack Obama and told Woodward he was inclined to refer to him by his first and middle names, “Barack Hussein,” but wouldn’t in his company to be “very nice.”

“I don’t think Obama’s smart,” Trump told Woodward. “I think he’s highly overrated. And I don’t think he’s a great speaker.” Trump added that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un thought Obama was “an asshole.”

“Rage” includes the first-reported excerpts of letters Trump exchanged with Kim, and quotes Trump in his interviews with Woodward using expletives to defend their pen-pal relationship. Even as U.S. intelligence chiefs warn that North Korea is unlikely to ever surrender its nuclear weapons and that Trump’s approach is ineffective, the president told Woodward he is determined to stay the course and dismissively says the CIA has “no idea” how to handle North Korea.

“I met. Big fucking deal,” Trump told Woodward, waving off criticism of his three face-to-face meetings with Kim. “It takes me two days. I met. I gave up nothing.”

Foreign affairs experts say Trump gave up much — including by postponing and then scaling back the U.S. joint military exercises with South Korea that had long angered North Korea, as well as by granting Kim the international stature and legitimacy the North Korean regime has long craved.

Trump told Woodward he evaluates Kim and his nuclear arsenal like a real estate target: “It’s really like, you know, somebody that’s in love with a house and they just can’t sell it.”

Kim welcomed Trump’s overtures with over-the-top prose in letters. Kim wrote that he wanted “another historic meeting between myself and Your Excellency reminiscent of a scene from a fantasy film.” And he said his meetings with Trump were a “precious memory” that underscored how the “deep and special friendship between us will work as a magical force.”

In another letter, Kim wrote to Trump, “I feel pleased to have formed good ties with such a powerful and preeminent statesman as Your Excellency.” And in yet another, Kim reflected on “that moment of history when I firmly held Your Excellency’s hand at the beautiful and sacred location as the whole world watched with great interest and hope to relive the honor of that day.”

Trump was taken with Kim’s flattery, Woodward writes, telling the author pridefully that Kim had addressed him as “Excellency.” Trump remarked that he was awestruck meeting Kim for the first time in 2018 in Singapore, thinking to himself, “Holy shit,” and finding Kim to be “far beyond smart.” Trump also boasted to Woodward that Kim “tells me everything,” including a graphic account of Kim having his uncle killed.

Trump did not share his letters to Kim — “those are so top secret,” the president said — though Woodward writes that Trump sent Kim a copy of the New York Times featuring a picture of the two men on the front page. “Chairman, great picture of you, big time,” Trump wrote on the paper in marker. (Trump falsely boasted to Woodward, “He never smiled before. I’m the only one he smiles with.”)

Trump reflected on his relationships with authoritarian leaders generally, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “It’s funny, the relationships I have, the tougher and meaner they are, the better I get along with them,” he told Woodward. “You know? Explain that to me someday, okay?”

In the midst of reflecting upon how close the United States had come in 2017 to war with North Korea, Trump revealed, “I have built a nuclear — a weapons system that nobody’s ever had in this country before. We have stuff that you haven’t even seen or heard about. We have stuff that Putin and Xi have never heard about before. There’s nobody — what we have is incredible.”

Woodward writes that anonymous sources later confirmed that the U.S. military had a secret new weapons system, but they would not provide details, and that the sources were surprised Trump had disclosed it.

The book documents private grumblings, periods of exasperation and wrestling about whether to quit among the so-called adults of the Trump orbit: Mattis, Coats and former secretary of state Rex Tillerson.

Mattis quietly went to Washington National Cathedral to pray about his concern for the nation’s fate under Trump’s command and, according to Woodward, told Coats, “There may come a time when we have to take collective action” since Trump is “dangerous. He’s unfit.”

In a separate conversation recounted by Woodward, Mattis told Coats, “The president has no moral compass,” to which the director of national intelligence replied, “True. To him, a lie is not a lie. It’s just what he thinks. He doesn’t know the difference between the truth and a lie.”

Woodward describes Coats’s experience as especially tortured. Coats, a former senator from Indiana, was recruited into the administration by Vice President Pence, and his wife is quoted as recalling a dinner at the White House when she interacted with Pence.

“I just looked at him, like, how are you stomaching this?” Marsha Coats said, according to Woodward. “I just looked at him like, this is horrible. I mean, we made eye contact. I think he understood. And he just whispered in my ear, ‘Stay the course.’ ”

Pence was the president’s one constant booster publicly and privately in Woodward’s book. When Coats considered resigning because of Trump’s handling of Russia, Pence urged him to “look on the positive side of things that he’s done. More attention on that. You can’t go.”

The loathing was mutual. “Not to mention my fucking generals are a bunch of pussies. They care more about their alliances than they do about trade deals,” Trump told White House trade adviser Peter Navarro at one point, according to Woodward.

Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, is quoted by Woodward as saying, “The most dangerous people around the president are overconfident idiots,” which Woodward interprets as a reference to Mattis, Tillerson and former National Economic Council director Gary Cohn.

Kushner was a frequent target of ire among Trump’s Cabinet members, who saw him as untrustworthy and weak in dealing with heads of states. Tillerson found Kushner’s warm dealings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “nauseating to watch. It was stomach churning,” according to Woodward.

Kushner is quoted extensively in the book ruminating about his father-in-law and presidential power. Woodward writes that Kushner advised people that one of the most important guiding texts to understand the Trump presidency was “Alice in Wonderland,” a novel about a young girl who falls through a rabbit hole. He singled out the Cheshire cat, whose strategy was endurance and persistence, not direction.

The book charts the Trump administration’s failings and missteps on the pandemic, including the decisions and actions of Pottinger, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield, infectious-disease expert Anthony S. Fauci and others.

Fauci at one point tells others that the president “is on a separate channel” and unfocused in meetings, with “rudderless” leadership, according to Woodward. “His attention span is like a minus number,” Fauci said, according to Woodward. “His sole purpose is to get reelected.”

In one Oval Office meeting recounted by Woodward, after Trump had made false statements in a news briefing, Fauci said in front of him: “We can’t let the president be out there being vulnerable, saying something that’s going to come back and bite him.” Pence, Kushner, chief of staff Mark Meadows and senior policy adviser Stephen Miller tensed up at once, Woodward writes, surprised Fauci would talk to Trump that way.

Woodward describes Fauci as particularly disappointed in Kushner for talking like a cheerleader as if everything was great. In June, as the virus was spreading wildly coast to coast and case numbers soared in Arizona, Florida, Texas and other states, Kushner said of Trump, “The goal is to get his head from governing to campaigning.”

Woodward writes that Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) suggested former president George W. Bush speak personally with Trump about global vaccine efforts, but that Bush demurred.

“No. No,” Bush told Graham, according to Woodward. “He’d misconstrue anything I said.”

In their final interview, on July 21, Trump vented to Woodward, “The virus has nothing to do with me. It’s not my fault.”

Robert Costa is a national political reporter for The Washington Post. He covers the White House, Congress, and campaigns. He joined The Post in January 2014. He is also the moderator of PBS's "Washington Week" and a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC.

Philip Rucker is the White House Bureau Chief for The Washington Post. He joined The Post in 2005 and previously has covered Congress, the Obama White House, and the 2012 and 2016 presidential campaigns. Rucker also is co-author of "A Very Stable Genius," a No. 1 New York Times bestseller, and is a Political Analyst for NBC News and MSNBC.

Democracy Dies in Darkness

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angeltriestoblog · 4 years

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I went from reluctant leader to ACTM officer!

Kind of a late update but after what seemed like an endless discernment period and an unforgivably rigorous application process (on my part), I’m officially the Ateneo Association for Communications Technology Management’s Associate Vice President for Documentations! And yes, I’m aware that’s a mouthful so from this point on, I am referring to myself as ACTM’s AVP for Docs.

I honestly did not see this coming though: Freshman Angel stuck out like a sore thumb in her home org. In addition to finding all upperclassmen intimidating as I do with anyone born at least a day before me, I felt like I was just… not feeling it most of the time. All I lacked was a button that read “I really wish I weren’t here right now!” pinned to my shirt. It was only when I was a sophomore, familiar with the organization’s events and able to see them up close that I realized that I didn’t remember going through most of them myself. Although I’m pretty sure I was present because it was mandatory for all new members, I don’t recall going to a general assembly, being briefed on the different departments within the org, and especially being taught what our core competency was. I was very content with doing the bare minimum as a Docs Head: going to meetings to take minutes and do registration, nagging at the project heads and point people to submit the necessary requirements for post-documentations, and smiling shyly and saying “I’m ok!” when people asked me how I was.

Although I was much more active in my second year, I never realized I wanted to increase my level of involvement until I went to LEAP, the three-day leadership training seminar in Zambales I raved about in my first semester recap blog post. It was there when I noticed the home aspect that ACTM prides itself on: everybody—regardless of batch and predetermined social circle—bonding in more ways than one, both with and without the influence of alcohol, just having a great time and joking around like they’ve been friends forever. I saw just how much ACTM was investing in me to help me realize that maybe I could be an officer too. Maybe I could contribute to the great culture that makes us so much of a family. But of course, that thought quickly found its way to the backburner the minute we boarded the bus back to Manila.

I never really saw myself as leader material after several failed stints in my old school: I was the secretary who forgot to ask the teacher to sign the attendance sheet, or the vice president that ran out of the classroom first during earthquake drills when I was supposed to be last in line to check if all appliances were off. (In my defense, it was an act of self-preservation.) I didn’t realize it then while I was busy wreaking havoc in every homeroom class I found myself in but when I finally grew up, for the lack of a better term, I came to the conclusion that being put in charge of a group of people would only bring disastrous consequences and I didn’t want anyone involved in that.

Fast forward to several months later: I had an individual consultation with my boss Chelsea, the previous holder of my current position, to help with her plans in running for vice president of our department. Somewhere along the way, she tapped me to fill her shoes—a request that was met with a high-pitched “WEH?” that probably shocked everyone on the third floor of MVP that day. I had been diligently doing my work for two years, she said, just as long as she has so I knew enough about the processes. Back then, I was very preoccupied with two other extracurricular commitments and had plans of joining three more the next school year. My goals and ambitions were all over the place and I guess it reflected in the way I skirted around the topic because she just patted my knee (throwback to the time when physical contact was still acceptable) and told me to think about it. Real hard.

I guess this lockdown period also served as the time for discernment I needed: I weighed the pros and cons, made the necessary trade-offs, and got the insights of those I trusted, mostly by pestering them with uppercase keyboard smashes. I’d think I had a final decision one day then wake up the next, completely changing my stance. It’s not like I didn’t want to serve—I guess I just wasn’t giving myself permission to believe I could. I can’t really pinpoint when it happened but one day, my brain went: “What the heck. What could possibly go wrong?”

—

After making the decision to run, I felt at peace, no longer overthinking about every single thinking that could possibly go wrong, just eager for the day application season would formally start. Well, that is until I received the actual notification from the Ateneo ACTM page that said a Facebook group for all AVP aspirants had been made. I tossed my laptop aside and started yelling, much to the dismay of my mother who was on the receiving end of all this panic. Over the next few days, I would watch the electoral talk that followed, a webinar of sorts that basically gave a rundown of the process we would have to go through should we want to take on the challenge.

One of my requirements was a long-ass form complete with questions about myself, my leadership skills, the department, and the organization. I remember looking through the platforms of the Executive Board applicants during the first wave of elections and saying to myself, “Wow, I hope I don’t have to fill up something that long. I would cry my ass off!” only to find out that I would have to submit almost an exact replica of that and truly enough, cry my ass off. While Noelle, our EVP, was glossing over everything, I took these pictures on my laptop’s photo booth to express my frustration and sent them to my friend Julia, who was also watching via Zoom. I was actually very paranoid that I had my video on during the call and would end up exposing my contorted facial expressions to all 70 people watching the livestream. Thankfully, the universe was merciful enough to be on my side at the time.

Believe me, I wanted to get started with the work the minute the virtual meeting ended: I felt like I needed to so everything wouldn’t pile up and paralyze me on the day of the deadline. But even early on, I was already pretty overwhelmed and I couldn’t bring myself to do anything. So I lay down on my bed for the rest of the night and played Ribs by Lorde on repeat. It was an effective coping mechanism then but I instantly regret it the next day once I realized just how much time I had wasted doing nothing when there was so much to be accomplished.

I answered the introspective questions pretty quickly: thanks to my sense of self-awareness, I was able to identify my strengths and weaknesses well. What I really struggled with was the platform. I couldn’t generate any original ideas that I felt could solve the problems I spotted—I had wondered if I could just copy paste Chelsea’s platform and add comments such as “Same” or “RT” on the side and call it a day. Thankfully, this is what individual consultations were for. I contacted Elise, a co-Docs Head from the previous school year, and Gella, my boss back in freshman year and both were kind enough to bounce ideas off me and give me reassurance that the working drafts I had in my mind were actually worth executing. With their insight (and a lot of ice cream), I was able to finish my application form days before I expected to.

I also wrapped up shooting my platform presentation ahead of schedule. I couldn’t find any decent background at home besides this one cabinet but I failed to notice that part of its door was actually faded until I was already done filming. In an attempt to hide it in a way that still appeared on-brand, I slapped some star and cloud stickers on the video and claimed that it matched my own name. The only obstacle I had to overcome was practicing for my panels.

The fact that my question and answer session with the Executive Board was to held be online instead of in-person given our circumstances was supposed to comfort me somehow. But either way, not knowing which answers were going to be expected of me gave me a great deal of anxiety. To stave off this irrational fear, I prepared a Quizlet with 27 potential questions or points for clarification on one side, and my response on the other, which I rehearsed with just the right amount of uh’s and um’s interspersed to make it look as spontaneous as possible. Maybe my greatest sacrifice though was boycotting any TV shows or movies until I was done presenting because even the most mindless programming could take away precious brain cells needed to retain more important information.

On the day of my actual interview, I was feeling pretty confident. I had gone the extra mile by preparing an hour early and recording videos of myself answering my imaginary questions on my laptop camera. This way, I felt like I was simulating the actual experience. But not even this form of planning could have prepared me for the real deal. I wish I could tell you more about how it went but I was so nervous that I blacked out. I vaguely remember puckering my lips and flashing a peace sign every time I didn’t know the answer to something and had to respond with, “I will look into that if I ever get the position.” I also remember that not a single one out of the 27 questions I had committed to memory was asked.

As expected, I was the most relieved when it was over, I didn’t even feel embarrassed until much later on. I got out of my smart casual attire, slipped into some pajamas, watched a movie, and finished the tub of Coffee Crumble waiting in the freezer as a reward. Two days later, I had received a message from Chelsea asking if she could call me. My friend Iverson had said that results are announced to all applicants via phone call before being released to the public at night. It’s not a clear indicator that I was the one they chose, which was horrifying because who wants to be rejected over the phone? My younger self hated Joe Jonas and what he did to Taylor Swift for precisely this reason!

Thankfully, I was only met with good news. Chelsea had told me that I had been chosen by the Executive Board and I was ACTM’s new AVP for Docs. I hadn’t eaten breakfast at the time despite the fact that it was 10 minutes to noon at the time so it took a while for my nutrient-deprived brain to generate the appropriate reaction. The joy kicked in eventually: I jumped up and down and yelled I’M SO HAPPY so many times once the call ended that the words have started to lose meaning.

Since then, I’ve spent my time familiarizing myself with my roles and responsibilities while getting to know everyone else on the team. I’ve had a video call via Google Meets with the people in my department where we leveled off, got to know one another better, and set our goals for the year as we watched Chelsea eat pasta. Very wholesome! EC Wars was also pretty fun: all eight departments of the organization were head-to-head in different challenges. It kinda reminded me of high school intramurals but with less broken friendships. We had to auction one another a la Unsubtle Syota Searching, make a Tiktok introducing our department, its relevance and the roles of each member (which officially launched my career as the org’s official Kris Aquino impersonator), and had a chaotic game of Bring Me through Facebook Messenger. Yes, it’s possible but not if you’re a PLDT subscriber! I also got put in a group with other members of the EC for an activity where we had to make an IMC campaign for a chosen advocacy. As the Mind Readers (named as such because of the multiple instances we sent the exact same message at the same time), we were assigned to tackle sustainable fashion and I have to say that our finished product was, as Dani Rosales herself would call it, “hot”.

This week, we’re on to the more serious stuff: revising internal procedures, refining platform points, etc etc. The fear caused by my self-doubt is further compounded by our current situation, which is keeping us from performing our tasks the way we envisioned we would. But I am a hundred percent confident that since I’m with the right people and we’re all doing the very best we can, it’s going to be one crazy fulfilling year ahead for all of us. I’m endlessly grateful to ACTM for taking a chance on me! Shoutout, of course, to: (1) Chelsea for serving as the final push I needed to decide that serving this organization is what I wanted to do; (2) all my friends who told me I had nothing to worry about while I was being neurotic and who were the first to congratulate me and say that they told me so; and (3) my parents who listened to my rants even if they were 90% org-related jargon.

Wishing you all love and light,

Angel

#quarantingz #personal?? actually ewan #angeltriestoblog #life dump #angel tries to be a leader #hopefully angel succeeds

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goldenmusicmoments · 7 years

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Taylor Swift:

So I have wanted to write this essay for quite some time now and finally here goes. Since Taylor Swift’s 1989 era she has been getting a lot of unnecessary hate. It seemed to have become a trend to jump on this hate bandwagon. I really was surprised to see the extremes people go to hate on someone they don’t even know. Sad is what it all is, a person whose heart is full of hate can never truly be happy.

Let’s start with people that have been claiming that Taylor is terrible to her fans. Taylor is actually one of the most fan loyal celebrities out there. She has been that way since the start of her career, from free meet and greets, to inviting fans over to her house and sending care packages to fans going through tough times. If I were to list all the things she has done for her fans it would take up the whole post. People were claiming that Taylor doesn’t care about her fans because she supposedly was suing them for selling merchandise with catchy phrases from her music or her images. Let’s think about this logically whether you are a fan or not you can’t use someone else’s work to make money off as that isn’t right. Being a fan doesn’t give you a free pass to do so. Let’s put it this way say I am a huge fan of a writer, I myself am a writer and I decided to include two pages from a book that, that writer wrote and claim it as my own to go on and sale it. Does me being a fan justify my use of those two pages of writing that aren’t my own, it doesn’t. If it was justifiable that would give way to people who aren’t fans to claim to be fans just to make money using that artist’s name/work. I didn’t see anyone bring up Beyonce’s name since there were articles talking about how her team shut down a fan site that was selling unauthorised merchandise belonging to a 15 year old who went on to twitter to beg Beyonce not to sue. It is rather hypocritical to attack one artist, but not the other for doing the same thing. So let’s not act like you care about the mistreatment of fans, when your true intent is to demonise Taylor. If you truly cared about the treatment of fans the statement would be general rather than targeted at a specific artist. Especially when it isn’t just a single artist preventing the selling of unauthorised merchandise.

There also were people who were attacking her by yelling ‘how could you sue your guitar teacher after he made you who you are today’. He taught her how to play guitar and that isn’t all her job role requires, so let’s not try reaching that high as clearly you are failing in your attempt. He did bad mouth her mother to the media yet had the nerve to use Taylor’s name in his websites url to profit of. It would have been acceptable in the description section of his site to mention that he taught the likes of Taylor Swift.

Also people were making claims that Taylor was removing all the videos that featured her music playing in them. One of them said that she got all the vines featuring her music removed. Think about this, why share the vines and show appreciation if she were only going to go and have them removed. Luckily enough I had liked the most popular vines featuring her music and they were still there even after these false claims. So people were going to extremes and creating things that weren’t true at all to tarnish Taylor’s image and most of this was being spread by a bunch of Katy Perry fans. Labels always remove music that is published online without acquiring the proper rights to it, the only way you’ll find videos still remain on sites like YouTube is when the audio has been altered to some degree.

Coming to Katy Perry, Bad Blood is in no way a track that attacks Katy in anyway way even if it is about her. It is a song that describes lyrically what most of us go through, in which we thought a person was one that we could trust but ended up being the opposite. The dancers were the hot topic in this situation and yes they aren’t an artist’s property in anyway. I also get that they had formed a close relationship with Katy Perry, but as a dancer when you sign up for a tour you go in knowing the amount of dates etc. If the dancers leave part way through a tour it does have an effect on the artists show as it is difficult to find dancers and then put them through rehearsals to learn the choreography part way through the tour. Katy being a friend should have talked to Taylor first and let her know that she was back touring and intended on asking whether the dancers wanted to come back to join her tour. That is what being a friend entails.

Then people criticised her for lyrics in ‘Better Than Revenge’ claiming that she slut shamed Camilla Belle. She didn’t call her a slut, the line ‘You’re better known for the things you can do on the mattress’ talks in terms of the popular perception of Camilla and not what Taylor thinks of her.

Now let’s talk about people calling Taylor a ‘snake’ because of Kim ‘exposing’ her. Taylor did give approval for Kanye to go ahead with the use of the lyrics he had informed her of in his song ‘Famous’, however she hadn’t heard the full song and was unaware of him relating to her as a ‘bitch’ until the album release. Think about it if Kim outing Taylor was authentic it wouldn’t have been done through snapchat using clips that were pieced together to only show what Kim wanted people to see. If she was going to release the phone call she should have released it in its entirety. Anyone with the slightest level of intellect should be able to figure that out.

Those that haven’t heard her full discography and just focused on the singles, and haven’t bothered to watch her interviews in order to comprehend her growth as a person and artist continue to ignorantly claim that she always plays the victim. I mean there are so many examples of her acknowledging when she has been in the wrong or made a mistake like ‘Back To December’ and then you will also notice lyrics in her song ‘Style’ that depict realisation of knowing that there are two participants in a relationship.

Taylor gets criticised a lot for not always posting about issues around the world on her social media pages, even though she continues to do a lot of philanthropic work and acts, rather than tweeting. Although she has posted on social media to show support and acknowledge issues on several occasions. She gets attacked when she both does and does not post on social media, so she can never win either way. The thing about posting about issues or current affairs is that it helps create awareness; however awareness is pointless without action. Yes I would love for Taylor to post more in acknowledgement of issues affecting the world, but you can understand why she could be put off from doing so. After all she is human to and she has feelings just like you and me.

The VMA situation last year when Nicki went on a rant on twitter also resulted in Taylor facing backlash for responding to what Nicki had said. If you did follow Nicki’s tweets from start to finish during that moment it wouldn’t have been too hard for you to piece things together. Nicki was obviously hurt by the fact that ‘Anaconda’ a video that did garner a lot of attention and surely went down as one of the biggest music videos during that year went unnoticed in the ‘Video Of The Year’ category. She near the end changed her tone and started to talk about the under appreciation of POC in the industry, which is very real and sad that people of colour aren’t recognised and awarded for their great contributions to the entertainment industry as much as those that are white. However when you take into account the full train of tweets in that rant you can make out that the she was going of more at the fact that her video didn’t receive a nomination in the major category. It is easy to see why Taylor would take the tweet, in which Nicki said that being white and skinny is the way you get recognised, as an aim at her. As out of the all the nominees that year in the ‘Video Of The Year’ category ‘Bad Blood’ was the only video that fit that description.

It is okay to dislike an artist, but that does not give you the right to be hateful or disrespectful towards them. The haters were going to extremes by conjuring up and twisting things in order to diminish Taylor as a person. Hate prevents a person from seeing the entire picture and just grasping to parts that play in the favour of the view of the hater. That is what a lot of people were doing in relation to what I have discussed above. There is so much more that I could have talked about which would have led this essay to turn into an entire book.

Regardless of being famous and wealthy, celebrities are still human beings just like you and me. They have feelings and they get hurt by things people say about them. On top of that you cannot use the line ‘Who cares they won’t see it so it won’t affect them’ as a way of justifying the posting of hurtful comment

#Taylor Swift #Reputation #LookWhatYouMadeMeDo #Haters #Katy Perry #Nicki Minaj #VMAs #Music #Fans #Kim Kardashian #Kanye West

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randathecartoonpanda-archiv-blog · 7 years

Note

XIII and IX: 208 215 216 221 227 240 250 254

Blue’s Revenge 5

208- What you wish for on 11:11?

I don’t wish for things at 11:11 ^^;

215- If you were the president, what would you do?

Why would anyone trust me to be the president?

I guess if I were the president and knew what I was doing, I’d tried to help, make reparations for, and raise awareness of groups that are marganalized and at a severe disadvantage in society.

216- If you could change one thing in the world, what would you change?

I’d have it so that people could realize how much they’re repeating history, because it genuinely angers me how much of a cycle humankind has gone in without seeming to realize it.

221- Post a photo/draw a picture/write a poem (pick one) of a moment of personal significance:

This is cheating, but here’s a personal drabble I wrote about a month or so back:

It’s a bit strange how when you’relittle, you’re taught that the world of fantasy is real, and that not ounce ofreality can tear through its glimmering fabric.

(The adults who raise you convinceyou that the tooth fairy is real, even when as you get a bit older, some of theother kids tease you for believing in them. Then one day you realize that ifSanta Claus doesn’t really climb down chimneys to sneak presents underChristmas trees, then the letters you thought the tooth fairy placed under yourpillow were actually written by your adult guardians)

It’s a bit strange that you’retaught to believe in fantasy when one day you learn that there is no fantasyfrom the Larger World.

Is it because we are too frightenedto teach our children about reality?

Is it because we, as adults, want toindulge in fantasy ourselves?

We give our children this giftcalled “fantasy,” then children become adults, and are many times, because ofthe Larger World, we are forced to have “fantasy” removed from their hands. Sowhy place it in their hands in the first place? Why give a child a toy if theLarger World is only going to taken a little wooden hammer and smash somethingthat was so big for them?

Perhaps it’s because stories havevalues, and values are what we need to hold onto when we face the Larger World?Is the Larger World the castle we must climb, the dragon we must conquer over?Are we royalty, knights, adventurers, characters who travel and learn, even ifwe don’t truly possess the power of magic; even if there are no unicorns, nophoenixes, no griffons…

Do we teach children about “fantasy”to help them survive?

Do we teach children about “fantasy”in hopes that even when the illusion of a fantastical world is destroyed, thechildren who become adults will still remember what “fantasy” was and what itrepresented, so that they can overpower the pressures of the Larger World?

(Which politicians, businesspeople,lawyers, corporate executives still remember “fantasy,” or have even learnedabout “fantasy”?)

227- Something you always think “what if…” about:

Some examples of “what its” I had:

- What if I were a known figure, and there were posts and gifsets of me on Tumblr, and a TVTropes page for me and my works, and I did interviews and went to conventions?- What if I had my own YouTube channel where I used my fursona for reaction images and made video essays surrounding animated stuff?- What if I had a girlfriend?- What if I got my dream roles?

240- If you could take something back that you said or did, what would it be?

The answer to that is very personal to me, I’m sorry.

250- How you hope your future will be like?

I live in an apartment with New York with a significant other and a cat. Somehow I have managed to work for animation studios and to produce my own work, and I am known enough that I can be interviewed and attend conventions. I advocate for others by discussing my personal struggles, raising awareness, and helping out causes. Though my anxiety is still a part of me (since it is a mental disability and I can’t get rid of it) and I still fall into depressive episodes, I have found ways to better take care of my mental health. Also I have kept in touch with many of my friends and even contribute to some of their works in some way.

254- Describe the most terrifying/strangest/beautiful dream you’ve ever had:

I remember when I was in elementary school, I had a dream where I was playing a Scooby Doo game on the Cartoon Network website, and it was about Shaggy and Scooby going through a maze and trying to avoid zombies. But the game wasn’t only a computer game thing, it was a console thing, and it was in my basement and for a “party,” but I was too terrified to play even though the adults wanted me to. I think there was a moment when I realized I was dreaming.

In retrospect I think my dreams were a lot more creative and imaginative when I was younger, even the more terrifying ones.

#About Me #meme answer #bluerapunzel

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askjennie · 7 years

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Job and Love Advice

(anonymously please)

I am really glad I found your blog. I have severe anxiety and depression and I don’t really communicate with people that well. Its gotten to the point where I don’t have any one to talk to and it has affected my mental state a lot. Sorry in advance if this post is long. Its more like 2 questions in one.

#1. I am 20 years old and I graduated high school last May. I’ve been searching for a job since I graduated and it’s been really hard because of my anxiety. I have always had it, but it just seems to be getting worse. I have gotten call backs from jobs but I never can call them back because it’s just so much for me to do.One day I got 3 call backs from three different jobs and I was so over whelmed because I just sat there and let the phone ring, listened to the voice mails, and that was it. And then I felt physically sick to my stomach from the nerves. A lot of people say it’s in my head and that I need to get over it but I just cant. I’ve been dealing with anxiety, depression, an eating disorder, and self harm since I was about 12. I’ve only been to 2 interviews and they were okay but I was so nervous I felt sick before, during, and after. Lately I have been really determined to find a job because I’m tired of living at home and depending on other people, but I just feel that in the back of my mind it’s going to be a never ending cycle.

#2. My boyfriend and I have been dating for a year and 7 months. We took a break last year(in January) because he was thinking of going into the military after graduation and he didn’t want to leave me even though I begged and stated my case on why we should stay together. During our break we continued to have sex (started back in late February) but it was sometimes awkward and most of the times they were just quickies, which made it even more awkward. It was a lot of ups and downs and confusion going on. There were times when I told myself I was done with him because everyone said he was just playing with me, but I thought otherwise even though in the back of my mind the thought was always there. We always made plans to go to prom together, even before we started dating. I wasn’t expecting him to take me to prom, but I still hoped. He told me that he couldn’t afford it but he really wanted to take me. Well a little while later, he told me that he was taking his friend who just happened to be his ex. (they had been off and on for years and had known each other since elementary school) We had this big fight about it and I was convinced that he was getting back with her. He told me it was just as friends, that he would never see her after graduation. And that she was paying for most of it but I doubt that. I was and still am upset about it. I could’ve still gone to prom but chose not to because I didn’t want to see the boy I loved there with another girl. This happened in April. When we graduated in May, I think that’s when I can say we were officially back together. Our relationship has been pretty good except for the thoughts that lurk in the back of my mind, until recently. He forgot Valentines Day. And I was kind of upset about it but the thing is, he was posting memes on his facebook page about Valentines Day. And that also brings up another topic. He acts single on his facebook. Well, thats how I would put it. It’s like I don’t even exist. He’s never posted a picture of me or us. He doesn’t like or comment on any of my pictures or posts although I don’t really post to begin with. It even still says he’s married from 2014. Although they’re just memes, it still upsets me. He also never wants to take pictures with me. Before we took a break, he posted ONE picture of me on his Instagram as his women crush Wednesday. He never posted pictures of us. He never posts me or us together on any of his social media and he hates when I try to take pictures of him or with him. But but but listen to this. When we first started dating in July of 2015, he still had pictures of him and his ex on his instagram and it took him almost 2 months into OUR relationship to delete them. He still has pictures of them on his facebook. They’re the first ones you see when you go to view his page and thats why I hate going to his facebook. I don’t think he and his ex have any contact with each other but I know he used to have her marked as a close friend on facebook because I saw one of the notifications come to his phone, but this was a while back. When he was at my house a few days ago he was scrolling on facebook and I was where he posted a status or atleast I think it was his(bad eye sight) but he scrolled past it before I could even read what it said. Out of curiosity, I went to his facebook page…. but I couldn’t find it. So either it wasn’t his (although I’m pretty sure it was) or he deleted it/has it set where I couldn’t see it. Of course I have trust issues. But I love him to death. He’s my first love, my first everything. I just feel like he’s hiding things. We’ve talked about moving in together once I find a job and moving forward. Sometimes I just feel like it won’t get to that. Like maybe he won’t have the patience to wait for me to get a job. I know he could do a lot better than me. I don’t want to hold him back in life, but I’m convinced that somehow I will. Then again it just might be me trying to convince myself that he is. It’s just the little things that make me question everything about our relationship.

I’m not really sure what you can that can help me in either one of my situations, maybe just some understanding. But thank you for reading.

Jennie: 1. Well, anxiety is in your head, but that doesn’t mean it’s less important than any other illness. In fact, if something is in your head, it’s affecting the most vital part of your body. Brain tumours are also just in people’s heads, but does anyone tell people with brain tumours to get over them without any assistance?

This won’t be a never ending cycle - if you’re getting call backs, that shows that you are qualified and capable of finding work. But it sounds like it would be useful to seek professional help to support you in getting out of this cycle. Anxiety is something that can be managed, but it takes practice, and a therapist would be able to help you learn some techniques for dealing with it. Start by speaking to your doctor, or googling mental health services, charities, or private therapists in your area, and contacting them directly. You may also find some of these self help resources helpful.

2. I’m a little confused by the ending of this question. You start by listing all the reasons this guy isn’t good for you, and then you end by saying that you’re not good enough for him, and that you’re holding him back. Instead, I’d suggest that this relationship is holding you back, not him.

There are lots of little issues adding up to suggest that either he’s lying to you, or that you just have different expectations in your relationship. Either way, this doesn’t sound healthy, or reliable, and especially while you’re dealing with these other issues, an unreliable relationship isn’t going to help anything.

He took his ex to prom while you were together. He seems to hide your relationship when he never used to hide his past ones. You suspect he’s hiding his social media posts from you. It sounds like you can’t trust him (you say you have trust issues, but I say that it doesn’t count as your issue if he’s giving you reasons not to trust him), and you deserve to be able to surround yourself with people who are trustworthy, who you can rely on.

Maybe this is something you could talk to him about. Maybe he doesn’t realise that you would have liked to do something for Valentine’s Day. Maybe he doesn’t realise that having pictures of you as a couple online matters to you. Have you ever tried expressing any of that to him?

But if it seems like he’s hiding things from you, or lying to you, then trust those instincts. You shouldn’t stay with someone you can’t trust. You need to be able to focus on yourself and your future without feeling constantly insecure about a relationship.

#advice #ask me anything #anxiety #depression #trust issues #relationships #mental health #advice blog #advice column #askjennie

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aletman262 · 4 years

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Where does content come from?

We’re a content firm, so we know where our content comes from most of the time: we write it on our computers with our own fingers. Not always, though.

Tom Hapgood and I met this morning to talk about a couple of very different websites we’re working on. Each of them has its own challenges when it comes to content, so I thought they’d make a good focus for a discussion of this rather slippery issue.

The first is a small website for a large insurance company. This special site will have some basic content and a couple of sales pages (landing pages for ads and media compaigns), but it will also have some dynamic news pages.

The company plans to write its own feature articles, but also to bring in news from other places, in several different ways. Tom and I could see quite a few different ways to accomplish this, so let’s just run through some of the options:

An RSS news feed “RSS” stands for “Rich Site Summary” or (more commonly now) “Really Simple Syndication.” A site like this one generates a feed, and you can subscribe and read it in a special application or on an aggregator site. The insurance company is getting a WordPress site from Haden Interactive, so we’ll be using a plugin. We haven’t yet decided which one or ones to use, since the company wants both individual feeds from specific sites and a more general news feed — we’ll probably need to use more than one. You can style an RSS feed in many different ways to meet your needs, from a scrolling bar along the bottom of your page to a feed with images or audio. You can also use a plugin like Wordnik’s Related Content, formerly Chorus, to bring in related content from other sites with the degree of automation you choose.

Curated blog posts Just posting someone else’s stuff without attribution is duplicate content, or plagiarism, and will do you no good at all. Curating posts — finding the good stuff and posting part of it with a link back to the original source, plus some commentary or analysis — is useful. There’s so much good stuff online that it’s a help to busy people to gather top stories on one topic into one place. Have a human being read through an automatic feed (like Google’s news alerts) and then post the items in the regular way. We’ll be using categories or Pods in various places on the insurance company’s site so their people can easily send these posts to the right places.

Feature articles Expert articles can share space with feeds and curated posts. For Puerto Rico Report, we set up the home page to show all the articles as they’re posted, but Tom styled the feature articles differently to make them stand out visually. At FreshPlans, we pull featured posts — and only featured posts– to the home page. In both these cases, the home page shows the beginning of the featured post and visitors must click through, but we’re thinking in this case of showing the entire featured article on the home page, requiring click through only to comment and read comments. For the insurance company, we’re planning also to provide some high value content as white papers which can be downloaded only when visitors provide their email addresses. The key to all these options in WordPress is the categories system.

We’re talking with another company right now that plans to have different types of content in different places on the site: book reviews brought in from databases in one place, and author interviews fed in from the website’s own blog on another page. Both types of content will show up on the homepage — but one will have a search box. We just did a live refresh for a realtor who has listings coming in from a national database, plus a curated news feed. We brought his blog into a page on the site, sent the news feed to a sidebar, and added a static homepage to improve search and conversion. We’ve also worked with companies which brought products into their e-commerce sites with a database, adding unique descriptions directly on the site.

I hope all these examples — even if you’ve just skimmed them — make one point very clearly: you can bring in content from all kinds of places. The challenge is in determining where each type of content belongs, how to get it there, and how to make it look good on your page. WordPress is so good at this that it’s hard to imagine why anyone would choose to use any other platform for a website that relies on this type of content.

The other site we discussed will not be a WordPress website. Tom and I get our classes (his design class, my writing class) together most semesters to create a site for a nonprofit. This coming semester, we’re building something for a group of women pilots. Several of the members of the group joined us this morning, from a 16 year old who had her pilot’s license before her drivers license to a lady in her 60s who crossed the finish line first in a recent race.

We were getting all excited about the opportunities when I looked around the group and realized that they wouldn’t know how to make changes to their website and wouldn’t have a webmaster. Adding all the new content they were imagining, from photos and educational materials to frequent updates on sponsors and racers, would be impractical. After toying with the idea of sending the 16 year old through a class on Dreamweaver, we determined that we could provide links on the static pages of the website to other content which could be updated easily:

A Facebook page If we put up a gallery and a link inviting visitors to “Find more pictures at Facebook!” we can keep adding pictures without using FTP. A widget like Embedagram allows a feed (just like the RSS feeds discussed above), but the group will probably have more people who use Facebook than Instagram. Whichever option you choose, remember that directing people there from your website means you have to keep it current.

A blog You can have an off-site blog and a link to it from your website. We figure we can make some space at FreshPlans for the educational materials and send ARC visitors over to see it. This won’t force the group’s members to blog, but will allow them to post new ideas whenever they want to.

Google Docs If you want an area you can change easily and you don’t care so much how it looks, you can create Google Docs and embed them into your site. Any changes you make in your document (easily) will automatically show up on your website. I’ve done this for educational websites and it’s handy — but I’m not going to pretend that it’s attractive. However, there are lots of places online where you can store content, from Behance to Tumblr, and you can either embed or link to the content you create there.

Plenty of possibilities — and the more you can command, the better your chances of finding the perfect solution for your particular circumstances.

The primary takeaway: think about the kind of content you want to use, how you can source it, and where you’ll put it. Use the conclusions you draw to determine the platforms you use and how you approach both the design of your website and your social media strategy.

#IXD301

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growlegalweed-blog · 5 years

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Legal Weed Resources

Check out... https://legalweed.gq/420/the-new-miss-marijuana-pageant-comes-with-outdated-guidelines-and-transphobia/

The New “Miss Marijuana” Pageant Comes With Outdated Guidelines and Transphobia

This article originally appeared on Straight Cannabis.

A new North American beauty pageant targeting the cannabis industry has just opened for applications—but only for “unwed” and “natural born” females between the ages 18 to 30.

And its founder thinks it’s going to be huge.

According to the official site, Miss Marijuana, or Miss MJ, is “the type of girl all the guys want, and all the girls want to be friends with” and the platform “gives you the opportunity to be the activist you’ve always dreamed of.”

Up for grabs is the crown and title of Miss Marijuana, $25,000, and a car—but not the branded Jeep Rubicon posted on the site, because that’s just to show applicants what a car looks like.

If accepted, contestants will upload a profile to be digitally polled by the general public. The online voting will take place for six to seven weeks and the 53 women with the highest votes—one for each American state and one from Canada—will then proceed to the final contest in Los Vegas, Nevada. The finale will include one “personal interview question”, and two catwalks—in a swimsuit and an evening gown.

“It’ll be a fashion show, it’ll be a concert—lotta fun, I hope,” says Howard Baer, the pageant’s founder, to the Georgia Straight on the phone.

“We have so many signed up from Canada that it looks like we may have to break it up into provinces. Originally, we were going to do it just as one, but we have over 500 from there now.”

Baer says the pageant has surpassed 5,200 interested contestants.

Outdated eligibility standards

While the site says “Miss Marijuana provides an equal opportunity for any woman interested” including models, experienced beauty pageant contestants, and “non-models” aspiring to break into industry—the guidelines exclude anyone married, or gender-fluid and non-conforming.

When asked about the specifications, Baer calls the single, or unwed, prerequisite a “normal” criterion for Miss or Ms pageants.

“The biggest reason for that is because when you’re working with married women in particular, these days it’s probably the same…we want her to be able to travel for the next year, and be at the dispensaries…events and so forth,” he says. “It’s pretty hard for a married woman to do that. She doesn’t have the freedom to do that.”

As far as contestants needed to be “naturally born women”, Baer says that’s more of a “personal thing”.

“In my mind…I’ve got a 14-year-old granddaughter…and the way things are, particularly with the transgenders, you’ve really don’t know what you have,” he says, trailing into a story he recently read about a transgender woman charged with assault in the U.K.

“He worked his way into women’s events, and what not. So, they sent him to jail, and in England there is a jail for transgenders specifically, and he raped two women there.”

The woman Baer is referring to is Karen White—a 52-year-old transgender woman sentenced to life for sexually assaulting two inmates in New Hall prison in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. The assaults took place in September and October of 2017 after White had been arrested on suspicion of stabbing a neighbor.

When asked how that incident related back to his beauty pageant, Baer said: “I don’t want the girls to be nervous about somebody that is in their room with them. The only one that allows that now is Miss Universe. I’ve read good and bad about it. I’ve read they’re regretting it. I’ve read that they’re not. But the majority of them [pageants] are not and I want to go with what I think is the normal thing to do.”

He adds: “I don’t want to put the girls in a position that they feel uncomfortable, because there are going to be a lot of young girls there and I just don’t want to do that.”

However, when others have tried to promote events solely for “women born women”, they have met fierce resistance from the trans community. Trans people have won major victories with legislation in Canada guaranteeing freedom from discrimination on the basis of gender identity and gender expression.

Moreover, school districts have also introduced measures to prevent bullying of trans kids.

These outdated standards are nothing new for beauty competitions. In fact, they harken back to the 1930s when contestants were asked to shield their faces for the bathing suit portion—opting either for a bag or a mask that looked like a cheap knockoff prop from the Hannibal Lecter franchise. The intention was to draw attention away from the face so judges could better focus on the women’s bodies. Questions about the validity and relevance of these rules are becoming increasingly poignant in the diversifying North American culture, but with legalization Baer sees this as an opportunity to reinvigorate the old rituals.

“I bought the domain eight, nine, ten years ago, or something like that. The timing wasn’t right for it. The timing is right now, so we’re doing it.”

A now-outdated press release shows an attempt at hosting the pageant in 2014. When asked why it never came to fruition, Baer says it didn’t get enough interest.

“Now that cannabis in the U.S. is becoming legalized, and in Canada, it’s a whole different story. We get 50, 60, 70 girls signing up every day and we’re not even promoting it other than a little bit on Facebook.”

A quick check validates the event’s dismal lack of social media presence. The pageant’s Twitter page has only garnered a couple hundred followers with seemingly no interactions, while the official Facebook page has fewer than 4,000 likes and followers.

Capitalizing on a legalization trend

Under the name Papa Baer Productions, Baer has several other businesses relating to the cannabis space. One is a social media platform titled MarijuanaSelfies, a polling-based website entirely populated by cellphone pictures of young, attractive, and half-naked women posing with weed. Users upload selfies that can then be voted on for weekly cash prizes. Baer also has a clothing line launched in 2017 called Smoke 10, which is described as “the first full clothing line dedicated strictly to the cannabis industry”.

“What drew me to it [the cannabis industry] was that I started buying domains about 10 or 12 years ago, and we took some of those domains and made them into sites. And we just kept expanding,” he says. Baer clarifies that he has no personal attachment to cannabis, but owns nearly 230 weed-related domains, including Miss Marijuana for every country in the Miss World pageant.

“Chile, Peru, I own all of them. If this works out, I’ll take it international in the next year or two years. It’ll become an international pageant.”

What exactly about Miss Marijuana relates cannabis? Not much, according to Baer.

Considering the U.S. currently operates as a puzzle of various stages of legality, he says “the girls” don’t have to admit to smoking weed or even know much about the plant to be eligible.

“A lot of the girls ask me about that. There is no use of the product in the pageant; there is no requirement of anybody. They just have to be pro-marijuana. In other words, they can’t be against it. They have to be advocates,” he says.

“We’re not going to be smoking; we’re not going to have it [pot] on-site. I don’t want the responsibility. And I don’t want the girls to feel like they have to do something they don’t want to do. It’s a name. It’s a brand name.”

While Baer says the pageant won’t have any weed on-site, or promote its use, he did take the opportunity to promote the pageant’s new CBD beauty line, which includes cannabis infused gummies, serums, and moisturizers. And the prize packs for both Miss MJ and the three runners-up apparently contain products from the top brands in the industry.

“That’s [beauty products] launching in a couple of weeks. Excellent products.”

Piper Courtenay is The Georgia Straight’s cannabis editor. Follow her on Twitter @PiperCourtenay and Instagram @PiperCourtenay.

The post The New “Miss Marijuana” Pageant Comes With Outdated Guidelines and Transphobia appeared first on High Times.

#comes #Guidelines #Marijuana #Miss #Outdated #Pageant #Transphobia

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bestforlessmove · 6 years

Text

Struggling to find reliable vendors? Here's what community association managers should know.

If you've noticed that finding reliable and quality vendors is harder than ever lately, you're not alone. It's affecting property managers everywhere, and it's not a problem anyone wants to have. You trust contractors to partner with you to protect your community and its members, and nothing's more frustrating than a negative vendor experience. But with the labor shortage making quality vendors more expensive and harder to find, it's time to reevaluate your vendor management strategy.

Although the vendor landscape is changing, it is possible to form positive relationships with quality contractors. With just a few small adjustments, you can find peace of mind with vendors you can trust. Here's your playbook for finding and managing reliable vendors.

Vendor Management Tips: #1

Interview Potential Vendors

Property managers are learning how to navigate the labor shortage on the fly, and it's harder than ever to find qualified contractors when you need them. Build a Rolodex of trusted vendors in the services your association needs most often. Usually, that includes a reliable handyman, a plumber, an electrician, and an HVAC expert. But where do you find and vet all of these vendors? Here are a few tips to get started:

Ask for referrals. Talk to other association and property managers and ask for vendors they've worked with and trust. You can also ask realtors you know for recommendations - their reputation depends on having a network of trusted contractors to refer to clients.

Always meet in person. A referral is a great start, but always meet with potential vendors in person. Not only will you get to know the contractor better, it's also a great test of their reliability and communication style.

Get multiple bids. It's a great idea to meet with several vendors before making a decision. You'll get an idea of the price range of your project and the different approaches you can take. Pro tip: don't just accept the lowest bid. Sometimes, that low number is a red flag for the quality of the contractor you're hiring.

Vendor Management Tips: #2

Do Your Homework

You've found the right vendor for the project - so it's all systems go, right? Not so fast. Many people skip doing their due diligence on a vendor for the sake of time. Especially in today's competitive market, it's easy to feel pressured to sign a contract before someone else gets to them first. But many of the vendor horror stories you hear from other property managers can be traced back to skipping these simple steps.

Here's a quick checklist:

Check licenses. It's crucial that your vendor is properly licensed in the city and state where the project will take place. Ask to see their licenses to make sure they're up to date and everything is above board. You'll also want to check for complaints filed against the vendor by conducting a background check or looking them up on Better Business Bureau.

Ask for testimonials. After ensuring the contractor is properly licensed, ask for testimonials from clients with similar projects. Get in touch with current or former clients and ask how the project went, what communication was like, and any tips for working with that vendor.

Read online reviews. When it comes to vetting vendors, social media is your friend. The unfiltered nature of online forums means you'll get the big-picture view of your vendor. Search for reviews on neighborhood forums, Angie's List, Yelp, and on their Facebook page. A few negative reviews is understandable, but look for a vendor with a high satisfaction rate.

Vendor Management Tips: #3

Protect Yourself

When it's time to make things official, clear communication will protect both you and the vendor. This is a great time to get proof of insurance: you'll want to see general liability, contractor liability, and workers' compensation insurance. If you're not familiar with liability coverage, it's worth it to take a few minutes and learn how liability coverage could impact you.

Before signing the contract, take time to discuss the details of your budget, timeline, and materials-and get it all in writing. Documenting as much of the plan as possible helps eliminate potential disputes during the project. When it's time to sign, make sure that everything you discussed is reflected in the contract. Once the project is underway, any significant changes should be added as an addendum and reflected in an updated estimated cost.

Vendor Management Tips: #4

Build Relationships

When you find a great vendor, don't let them go! The real secret to managing vendors is to build long-term relationships so that you're not scrambling to find help next time you need it. Even if you don't need an electrician now, starting your search beforehand eliminates the headache of vetting vendors under pressure. Build your roster of trusted contractors for different services and do the legwork in advance to make sure they're a great fit. Next time crisis strikes, you'll know exactly who to call.

But we know what you're thinking - who's to say the vendor you want will be available? There are no guarantees, but if you're putting in the work to build strong relationships, contractors are often willing to go above and beyond to help out. You're looking for the ideal vendor, so do your part to be the ideal client. That means partnering with vendors to help promote their business by providing referrals and sharing testimonials. You'll be rewarded with fair pricing, quality service, and far fewer vendor headaches.

P.S. Be sure to subscribe to the Buildium blog to stay up-to-date on industry news and the issues you care about. Click here to sign up now!

The post Struggling to find reliable vendors? Here's what community association managers should know. appeared first on Buildium.

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titheguerrero · 6 years

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Burnout Returns to Center Stage

A recent Mayo Clinic Proceedings guest editorial, by Yale University physician Kristine Olson, asks the question--to some of us it's far from a rhetorical one--whether burnout among her fellow physicians is in fact "A Leading Indicator of Health System Performance?" Seems to me that her gist is: yes, it surely must be just such an indicator. If she's right, then our system's performance is in a heap of trouble. What is burnout? Our fearless editor, Dr. Poses, has addressed it repeatedly, including a few months ago here in these pages. But burnout is actually hard to delineate and hard to quantify. People quitting? People getting a lot less efficient once they see they're on the hamster-wheel? Getting lousy performance ratings because they're forced to hang in? (Wishing they had another option?) Leaving front line medicine to go to industry? Leaving to clip coupons and bicycle in Provence? Well, to quote Justice Potter Steward in his inimitable pronouncement for his short concurrence in the 1964 SCOTUS obscenity proceedings, "I know it when I see it." I know burnout when I see it. So do you. You want a physician who loves her job enough to get good at it, because lives depend on that. How's that going for you? I've watched my best and brightest colleagues--or those who could find another job or afford to do so--leave in droves. Now the waves of new investigations of burnout are coming at us thick and fast. What's striking about the latest spate of writings on burnout is what it doesn't try to say. Which is to say: back at the turn of the century, or just before that, or just after that, the preponderance of published sentiment was on reinforcing providers' resilience. Essentially, pep talks disguised as exegeses on "professionalism." "Stiff upper lip, remember your values and for heaven's sake, keep your professional wits about you. That's now changed. The surfeit of real, serious challenges--external threats--from HIT FAN (Health IT FAke News) to the opioid crisis to maldistributed resources, are now finally being examined. We'll come back to whether it's too late for any of this. So here are some recent chances for readers to get, usually without a paywall, a look-see.

The redoubtable New England Journal has several recent entries in its 25 January 2018 number dealing forthrightly with the "crisis level" of the problem, beginning with a perspectives piece from National Academy of Medicine authors Victor Dzau et al., including colleagues from most of the major national organizations involved in training and accrediting physicians and their organizations. I hope they read this blog.

The article cited above embeds an excellent and downloadable audio interview with Tait Shanafelt, MD, of Stanford University, also on burnout. He helpfully points out how front line doctors--those in primary care fields like internal medicine, family medicine and pediatrics--bear the brunt of the burden. That is, they bear the burden reflected in the alarming rate of especially experienced practitioners peeling off rather than continuing to put up with the (now my words) losses of autonomy and coherence. More later on autonomy and coherence. (At Stanford, Shanafelt holds the title of "Chief Wellness Officer." That tells us something right there. At a website tied to fitness, the CWO is defined as somehow hired to "create work culture for employees to not only show up and perform, but thrive." Hey, any port in a storm. If removing noxious threats such as those above can be compared to wellness threats on exercise machines, like coach-driven anabolic steroids, then we're all for it. Let's get rid of the bullying managers along with the bullying coaches. Can CWO's effect such a change?)

In the same number of the Journal, one finds another superb piece by the now long established team of physician-journalists Alexi Wright and Ingrid Katz. Gott sei dank for the impact of young persons and women on health policy around medical worklife. Wright and Katz title their piece "Beyond Burnout -- Redesigning Care," not the shopworn twentieth century "Be More Professional" meme. They go on at length on the cost of losing experienced doctors, and describe one means of addressing the crisis created at the University of Colorado. In the so-called Colorado APEX project, which started (as many innovations do) in Family Medicine at UC, then spread to other departments and institutions, they show how certain burnout measured were cut dramatically. They conclude, though, with an admonition: "how [can] physicians can reclaim joy in the practice of medicine?" They're not sure, nor am I, whether managerial redesign of care, by itself, can "restore meaning and sanity" to the lives of providers. And this is not just about--in the main this is not about--making doctors' lives better. Not the real point. Doctors flake off, patients have longer wait times then have access to less and less experienced ones when they finally get to see them. Doctors lose that passion for the art when they're overwhelmed with prescriptive guidelines around the "science." Unclear which is more dangerous: doctors who burn out and leave, or those who burn out and stay behind.

Wright and Katz and a number of other observers cite what's turning out to be a seminal study published last fall in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Authored by a team led by prominent internist Christine Sinsky, the piece provides all the evidence anyone will ever need to understand the magnitude of the crisis as well as some of its causes. Chief among those causes, a topic repeatedly and eloquently underscored (most recently here) in these blog pages by our own InformaticsMD, is the Electronic Health Record, or EHR. The blog post just quoted actually harks back, through a report in Medical Economics, to the same Sinsky piece mentioned at the start of this bullet.

There's been a lot of inkshed lately about the EHR as a cause of burnout. But what seems most likely is a murkier picture that means we have to look both across the causal spectrum and across the political spectrum.

Does having your practice swamped by addiction-crisis patients contribute as well to burnout? In an earlier blog we pointed to the phenomenon of physicians across the country "learning" about opiates, first becoming "convinced" of the non-addictive properties of drugs like OxyContin. In a word, later, realizing they'd been snookered--a real blow to the joy and coherence of medical practice. Not to mention the end-effect of whole practices being consumed by drug- and doctor-shopping by patients totally convinced that they "needed" continued use of these drugs to avoid pain relapse.

But wait. Burnout is multicausal. Physicians trained to practice public health and physiologically-based internal medicine are stymied by loss of control of their practice, as the managers insist on crowding their schedules with all comers. No choice. Firing a patient is well nigh impossible.

They're also stymied by the bizarre contradictions--see above and all the new articles--of the technology imposed by managerialism. Why is it imposed? The physicians know why, and there's nothing they can do about it.

It allows managers to "watch"--using all the wrong metrics--their performance.

It gives managers the illusion of control by means of counting--which in fact EHR does very badly--adherence by clinicians to clinical guidelines, even when the latter are ill conceived.

It allows managers to draw in more dollars through "compliance" with government-imposed standards, out of the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Care IT, including the now justifiably much-maligned Meaningful Use standards. Some standards we came to know well, allowing managers to capture more dollars, include things such as the following.

pushing out end-of-encounter "Clinical Summaries" that contain nothing but erroneous lists of medications, and no plan, then leaving these near-worthless paper documents on printers when they were destined for patients

striving perversely to push out "eScripts"--electronic prescriptions--for a certain percentage of patients during encounters, requiring first the e-prescription followed by a web-page button indicating "I wrote this prescription electronically," followed by billing for an eScript: except that most patients already got their meds renewed outside of in-office encounters

the push to "upcode" from lower- to high-reimbursement level billing codes for greater charge capture, requiring nothing more than gross importation of macros and text blocks

this list goes on and on; this write knows inside out the perversities of the EHR

So the opiate crisis and the technology crisis have converged with still other forces that now becoming rampant. Chief among these is the much slower-simmering crisis of hyperspecialism. Students who would become great generalists cannot afford to do so because of crushing debt burdens. Their institutions impose drastic inflated costs on medical students while pushing, through both cultural and institutional pressures, these students to hyper-specialize in procedure-driven specialties whereupon they, too, can become part of the problem.

This last problem has been discussed on occasion over the years in HCRenewal by its editor, Dr. Poses, in his discussions of the secretive AMA-designated panel known as the RUC, the Resource Utilization Committee. RUC exposés are rampant--see here and here--and nothing new. But the result is that the AMA's efforts on behalf of its own heavily specialty-weighted membership have created within medicine an auto-cannibalistic food chain within which the profession, including academic medicine, essentially penalize their own most vulnerable. The most vulnerable who are in fact societally the most valuable. But since the AMA appoints the RUC, it is complicit in this autocannibalism, and therefore in the demise of physician worklife coherence. In his interview, Stanford CWO Shanahan states as much when we speaks of the particularly burdensome consequences of burnout among primary care physicians. (That Sinsky now spends some significant part of her time at the AMA is a good portent, we have to admit.)

So what are we left with? Earlier we said this is a multi-political problem. Look at the sources of the three causes of burnout discussed above.

The opiate crisis clearly stems from industry. Big Pharma, with one company, Purdue, allegedly leading the charge over several decades, gets the nod here. Not, as Wisconsin Sen Ron Johnson seems to think, the availability of Medicaid funds for addicted patients. Score one for private sector iniquity.

The EHR crisis clearly stems from Big Government. And probably, equally, industry, although when it started out the folks who brought you all the deficient EHRs were small entrepreneurs, nothing like Big Pharma. Score one for public sector iniquity. But Big Government brought them into the Bigs. Using by and large the wrong metrics. Medical managerialism then kicked in, bought the package, and went for the gold in them thar IT hills. That's the story of HITECH and even ACA as they sought out tech panaceas--the classic American technological imperative that brought us everything from the Interstate Highway System to the Moon Shot to the War on Cancer. And now this.

The relationship between public clinical needs and physician organizational resource mismatches is internal to the medical profession. "We have met the enemy and he is us." Score one for autocannibalism in a classic profession unable to regulate itself now, if it ever could before, in the face of all these new external forces.

Put all this on a SWOT analysis chart and you have a recipe for disaster. The one thing that both Big Medicine and Little Medicine had going for them in years past was autonomy and coherence. The autonomy couldn't survive in the 21st century, but the coherence--the joy of applying science to the individual patient--could have and should have. It is a flame still not extinguished. But faced with the forces we've discussed here, it is a flame flickering, just barely.

And the solution, like the problem, comes from every part of society, It therefore brooks no easy or solitary solution from either the left or the right extremes of political philosophy.

Article source:Health Care Renewal

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bizmediaweb · 6 years

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14 Exciting New Things to Try on Social Media in 2018

Each new year signals a new beginning—especially when it comes to your social media strategy. If you try new things on social this year that other brands aren’t doing, you have a much better chance of surprising your audience and engaging them.

We’ve outlined all the major updates and new features for each of the major networks so you can incorporate them into your social marketing strategy for 2018.

Bonus: Download our free guide that shows you how to 10X your social media performance and beat your competitors. Includes the tools, tricks, and daily routines used by three world-class social media experts.

Facebook

1. Experiment with TV-style content using Watch

When you’re thinking about your 2018 video strategy, consider Watch, a platform for hosting TV-like shows on Facebook.

The shows that a Facebook user will see depends on their interests and what their friends are watching—with highlights like “Most Talked About” or “What’s Making People Laugh.” This Netflix-style approach to targeting viewers based on interests is a big deal for brands. You’ll be able to extend your reach through your existing fanbase.

Watch is currently being introduced to a small group in the U.S. and will soon extend access to other groups and content creators .

2. Create collaborative Stories in groups and events

Facebook’s Stories—which allow you to post content that disappears after 24 hours—is now available for groups and events. People can post Stories that are visible only to their groups or on any event page. These Stories will have a private hashtag and will be moderated by admins to make sure that content is appropriate and on-brand.

If your brand uses Facebook Groups or Events, collaborative Stories offer a fun new way to engage with your audience. For example, if your brand is promoting an event on Facebook, you can build excitement by sharing insider, sneak peek clips before the day.

You could also provide incentives (like prizes) to get people to share their experiences at an event. User-generated content from attendees can help build a sense of community and brand advocacy, and give you more information on your most engaged customers.

3. Add royalty-free music to your Facebook videos

Adding the right soundtrack to your video is key to creating a successful social video. To help make this process easier, Facebook has introduced the video editing tool Sound Collection, which lets you add sound effects or music—free of charge—to your video clips.

Audio files on Sound Collection are royalty-free so you don’t have to worry about copyright infringement or blowing your budget. It can help you save time and money while producing your video.

Instagram

4. Showcase your best content using Stories Highlights

Instagram Stories Highlights lets your brand showcase your best Stories and post them permanently on your Instagram profile. This feature is super valuable for brands because, unlike self-destructing Story content, Stories Highlights can be saved, reposted, and measured for long-term performance. You can organize your own Stories Highlights however you want before you post, whether it’s by theme, campaign, or date.

Stories Highlights is also a good way for you to promote the content you want users to see first. They appear right below your bio for easy viewing.

5. Be more transparent

Instagram has introduced a paid partnership tagging feature so that influencers and brands can be more transparent about disclosing which of their posts are sponsored. When an influencer tags a business in their post with the paid partnership feature, that business will then have access to performance data for that post, including metrics such as reach and replies.

If you run influencer marketing campaigns on Instagram, you’ll want to use this feature. While the paid partnership tagging may not meet all of the FTC’s requirements, it still allows you to disclose important paid partnership information and provides additional user behaviour data.

6. Broadcast live with a guest

Instagram now lets users and brands broadcast live with a guest in a split screen format. Broadcasts will appear in the Stories section of the platform with two circles (instead of the typical one circle). If your broadcast receives a lot of engagement, you could end up in Instagram’s Search and Explore tab.

When planning a collaborative broadcast, think about how two speakers can create unique content for this new format. You might choose to invite a guest from a strategic brand partnership for an announcement or ask an influencer to co-host an Instagram takeover.

Image via Instagram Press

Snapchat

7. Add website links to sponsored filters and lenses

Brands can now track what a user does after they’ve seen a sponsored lens or filter, which makes it a lot more appealing to direct-response advertisers.

When you buy a sponsored lens or geofilter, you can attach a Context Card to the ad so that people can swipe up and tap on the link provided. Since this additional functionality is free for advertisers, it’s worth trying so that you can better track conversions and the performance of your ads.

8. Easily create branded Snapchat lenses

Snapchat’s Lens Studio enables any user or business to create their own augmented reality (AR) lenses. The desktop app offers instructions for beginners to start with basic 2D animation, while more advanced creators can actually access the API and create complex lenses from scratch.

Once you’ve created your lens, you’ll receive a unique Snapcode to share from anywhere, and anyone can unlock your lens.

If you have an in-house creative team that can help build and create lenses for campaigns, this is a great opportunity to try something a little different on Snapchat and engage users.

Twitter

9. Tell a story in 280 characters

Twitter has officially rolled out their 280-character limit around the world (with the exception of several Asian countries). In its announcement, Twitter said that the character increase would allow people to express more, while still encouraging the importance of brevity.

Play around with new storytelling concepts that would have been formerly impossible under the 140 character limit—but don’t write more just because you can. Being clear and succinct is still the way to go on Twitter.

10. Send more creative, personalized direct messages

With Twitter’s Direct Message Cards, your brand can share engaging images and videos—with customizable call to action (CTA) buttons—all within your message conversations.

Direct Message cards give brands the freedom and flexibility to consider the customer experience and take a more visual approach to customer interactions.

11. Automate Promoted tweets

Twitter’s Promote Mode will let small businesses and brands run automated ad campaigns on Twitter for $99/month. Once you’ve enabled Promote Mode, Twitter will automatically amplify your brand’s best tweets based on Twitter’s algorithms. To users, the ads will appear the same as any other promoted tweet.

If you don’t have a dedicated team to run your social ad campaigns, then this is a good option. LinkedIn

12. Educate your audience using LinkedIn video

LinkedIn video allows you to create and share videos with the LinkedIn community. You can make recordings using the LinkedIn mobile app or upload a video file to the app.

Creators will get valuable audience insights into their video audience such as job titles and location. You’ll also be able to monitor comments and social reactions.

LinkedIn video is a great way for your brand to share expertise and showcase specialists within your business. Think about how you can take thought leadership articles, blogs, and interviews and repurpose them for LinkedIn video.

13. Get your executives mentoring on social

LinkedIn’s Career Advice feature is a new way for users to find and connect with other professionals for mentorship. Here, users can enter preferences and the type of advice they’re looking for and LinkedIn will make relevant recommendations.

If your business has executives, thought leaders, or other experts that want to share their knowledge and build your brand’s credibility, then it may be worth incorporating this feature into your corporate social strategy. Pinterest

14. Feature your products in inspirational photos

With Pinterest’s visual discovery tools (including the new Lens Your Look), users can take photos of objects they like and Pinterest will match it to photos on the platform. For example, if someone takes a picture of a chair they love—and your business sells a similar chair that’s featured on Pinterest—then there’s a good chance that your photo will pop up for them to see.

Right now the Lens is best used for home decor, food, and clothing, but Pinterest plans to roll out the feature more broadly in the future.

Image via Pinterest blog

By revamping your social strategy and trying out new things on social networks, you have a better chance of increasing your engagement and delighting your audience. Use this list to guide what new features and tactics you try out in 2018.

Manage all your social media in one place. From finding prospects to serving customers, Hootsuite helps you get more out of social with less effort.

Get Started

The post 14 Exciting New Things to Try on Social Media in 2018 appeared first on Hootsuite Social Media Management.

14 Exciting New Things to Try on Social Media in 2018 published first on https://themarketingheaven.tumblr.com/

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livefreeshop · 7 years

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I've heard so many success stories about crowdfunding that I wanted a piece of the pie.

What I got instead was a slice of humble pie.

I thought I could rock a Kickstarter campaign with all my hustle and smart marketing ideas. However, I have to confess that my first attempt at a Kickstarter campaign was basically a complete failure.

The silver lining is that I think I have a few takeaways should you ever decide to go down the Kickstarter route. In addition, I learned that simply launching my product on Amazon has resulted in significantly better returns and was a whole lot easier.

Now, maybe I just did better on Amazon because I have lots of experience there; however, today I'd like to share what I did and why I think Kickstarter was a dud for me and why Amazon has worked so well.

The Backstory

At the beginning of this year, we had a couple of unique ideas for our Fitness brand (that I've discussed in the past). Although neither of these were unique inventions, they both were somewhat unique offerings.

One of the products had little to no competition on Amazon selling the exact same item with a particular unique feature. The other product was simply a unique bundle of products; where, none of the individual products were unique.

For example, I just saw a company on Shark Tank selling a 72 hour kit. Nothing in the survival kit was unique, but the combination of the items was somewhat unique. This is kind-of similar to what I was doing with one of our products in the fitness niche.

The production took WAY longer than we had anticipated. I had to go through a few samples to get our “kit” items just right. In addition, there was some holdup getting our inventory where it needed to be. All said and done, I expected to be up and selling in March or April at the latest…instead we weren't ready to start selling until July.

Because I had done a podcast interview with Kendall Rizzo where she talked about Kickstarter, I had the crowdfunding bug. She shared some great tips and strategies on our podcast, and I was itching to try them out.

So, I decided I would first launch my fitness “Kit” product on Kickstarter, where I would raise a bazillion dollars. Then I would move over to Amazon where Jeff Bezos would be impressed with my hot selling item.

Well, that didn't quite happen, but I did have a detailed plan that I thought would work.

My Detailed Plan to Kickstarter Failure…

As usual, I sat down and wrote out a detailed plan of how I could launch this new product into the stratosphere. I actually still had the plan outline in my Google drive, so I figured I'd share this step by step plan that I thought would be a huge success.

(Certain references to my product, website, and niche have been removed to keep it private).

Days minus 14 to 0: Prep work to successful launch

Create contest page + funnel

Compile a list of 1,000 niche related publications/blogs with contact info

Compile a list of 300+ admins of FB groups/pages

Assign on spreadsheet who will contact each blogger/FB page

Get ads created for FB and website from Design pickle

Additional pictures or videos

Days 1 – 7: Grow email list through contest

Run a contest for 7 days – giveaway a kit each day

Landing page needed with great pictures

Outreach to 500+ bloggers and ask for email blast

Reach out to owners of 300+ FB groups/pages interested in niche

Change pop-up/ads on site

Write new blog post?

Reach out to (large event) or others

FB ads targeting niche + retargeting ads for anyone visiting landing page – $100/day

Day 8 to 28: Launch on Kickstarter

Develop own landing page that “sells” our kickstarter campaign? (so we can retarget)

Email list multiple times per week about new kickstarter campaign

Change pop-up/ads on site to drive to Kickstarter page

FB ads targeting niche + retargeting ads from contest page – $100/day

Outreach to another 500+ bloggers/publications and ask for mention of kickstarter.

Follow up with bloggers from first 7 days and ask for kickstarter mention.

Reach out to owners of FB groups interested in niche

Day 30 – 45: Launch on Amazon

Jump send 25% off promo

PPC ads

Salesbacker follow up emails

Develop plan further when we get there

As you can see from the detailed plan above, I thought I had all the pieces in place. I created a custom video for Kickstarter and had great photos. I had an email list of 17,000 people in my niche and prepped them for launch.

My team and I did TONS of outreach via email and I spent $100 a day on FB ads to drive additional traffic (as you can see from the detailed plan above).

When I looked at this plan I thought surely I can raise $10,000. With all this work and money spent on ads, I thought I could hit this magic number that I set as my funding goal.

However, after the first 7 days, I already knew we probably weren't going to hit our funding goal…we weren't even close.

We kept on hustling, but our funding page just did not convert to backers. Here's the dismal results:

Ouch! After 30 days of hard work, we only convinced 17 people to back our project. The only logical conclusion was that our product was a dud, right?

Well, not so fast!

How I Totally Redeemed Myself on Amazon

When you only get 17 buyers in 30 days after emailing thousands of people and spending $100 a day on ads (not for the entire 30 days though), I thought for a while that perhaps it was just time to move onto a new project.

However, I also realized that perhaps Kickstarter was just not the best platform to launch this product on. The product is great and fills a need; however, it's not real unique. Kickstarter tends to be more for projects that are newer inventions or innovations.

I knew that my product was not a big innovation, but I had heard so many people tell me that Kickstarter was a great platform for ANY project that you might have, so I wanted to try it out.

My next step in the process was to finally take my product to a platform where I knew people went to buy things; Amazon.

I've launched several products on Amazon and I know the process pretty well. So, we set the wheels in motion to get our listing up on Amazon.

We already had the pictures and other sales copy from our Kickstarter campaign, so the process went pretty quick to get the listing live. The next few steps needed are promotional.

Here's what we did to promote our new Amazon listing:

Make sure we had done proper keyword research so our listing would show up for the search terms we wanted to target.

We already had a list of 17,000 people in our niche, so we did a giveaway/contest to build some excitement around the product.

Emailed our list at the end of contest that even if you didn't win, you could now buy on Amazon.

Used Viral launch to sell a 100+ units at a deep discount. Each of these that sells we lose money on, but it pushed our sales rank and keyword rankings higher.

Started a small Amazon sponsored ads campaign.

Used Salesbacker to send follow up emails to encourage reviews after people purchase on Amazon.

That's about it. Compared to the work we did for our Kickstarter campaign, launching on Amazon was WAY easier and less time consuming. Oh, and cheaper since we weren't spending $100 a day on ads.

The results?

Here's a screenshot from the sales of this “kit” product in September:

Now, the $5,558.61 is not an accurate revenue number. We started the discount Viral Launch in August, but lots of the sales in September were still at a discount, so the true revenue we saw was lower.

However, since the launch completed around mid-September, we are now making 2 to 3 sales a day at full price. That's roughly $80 to $120 in revenue a day from a product that totally flopped on Kickstarter.

At 2 to 3 units a day, that equates to roughly $1,000 to $1,500 a month in NET profit. I don't know about you, but I'll take that. I've added another nice product to my portfolio that appears to be producing nicely on its own nearly a month after we completed our initial launch.

The product only has 2 reviews (both 5 stars), so I expect as more reviews roll in the sales may just continue to pick up even more. However, even if this product just plugs along at 2 to 3 sales a day, I'm really happy with the results.

A Quick Re-cap

After doing hours of manual research to a thousand plus people and spending $100 a day for a short period of time, my Kickstarter campaign produced a measly 17 sales. After 30 days of promotion, 17 sales is enough for any sane business person to pack up their bags and move on.

However, after even a shorter launch period on Amazon and basically no manual outreach, we've sold over 150 units during the launch period and continue to sell 2 to 3 units a day at full price. It's been almost a month now after we completed the launch of this product, so I'm confident that it will continue to sell.

The process is also basically hands off now on Amazon. The product ranks well for a few keywords that we targeted and people just find and buy.

One of the big lessons I think I've learned is that Kickstarter might be a great platform, but only for the right products. Maybe a super star Kickstarter wizard could have made our product work; however, after giving it my best shot, I just couldn't get the backers.

People on Kickstarter are looking to back innovative, new, and exciting products.

On the other hand, people on Amazon are just looking to buy something that meets their needs. They don't care if it's new or innovative. If the product meets the criteria they are looking for, they will buy it.

So, choosing the right platform makes a big difference. I failed on Kickstarter, but I now have a winning product on Amazon.

The post Kickstarter vs Amazon: How I Failed on Kickstarter But Won on Amazon appeared first on Niche Pursuits.

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blackpjensen · 7 years

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How Client Feedback Can Catapult You Into Stardom

Your company and its team have a loyal following. In fact, you get constantly reminded of it through emails, handwritten notes, raving reviews and kind words every day. On tough days it’s just the encouragement you need to keep your head up.

There’s only one problem — you’re realizing not enough people know you. Your lawn care or landscape company’s reputation is almost as obscure as a D-List celebrity. Some people may have heard of you, but most of the public has no clue just how wonderful you are. But with the right representation, you could have a crowd of raving fans ready to follow you anywhere you go, even if they’ve not yet done business with you.

One thing I frequently notice is that extremely talented green industry companies do a poor job of utilizing positive client feedback in their marketing. Yet this kind of proof is what prospects need to become your next clients. Saying you’re the best in your advertising doesn’t matter. Prospects need to hear it from your clients. That’s what it takes to become a rockstar.

From proof to popularity

Without a purposeful strategy and process, you’ll remain in obscurity. It’s important that your whole entourage gets on board with your goal and follows the same procedure, whether they are in sales, answering the phone or performing work on a client’s property. This golden feedback is too valuable to squander.

1. Do as many interviews as possible

Sure you’ll get the unsolicited fan mail. But most clients are busy and won’t let you know how they feel about you, even if they’re thrilled. They need a subtle nudge and you need to make it easy for them. You can’t wait for the opportunities to come to you. You’re going to have to take advantage of every chance you get.

Develop simple ways that happy clients can share their thoughts. You can do this a variety of ways, including:

Email surveys — keep it short and easy for them

Postcards — give a few multiple choice scoring questions and a few lines for a comment

Website forms — great to include on the page after a client submits a payment

Online reviews — promote these links on social media platforms or email

Conversations — ask them questions that get specific, meaningful answers

Whatever means you use, tell your client it only takes a minute and why it’s important. Make it about them, not you. Let them know that what they say matters and that their feedback will help you do an even better job for them in the future.

2. Record it

Don’t let these responses slip through the cracks or get filed away to be forgotten like one-hit wonders.

Whether it’s in a spreadsheet, document or CRM software, it’s essential that all feedback gets logged in one central location and is easily accessed by your team. Store comments in a manner where anyone from your team can look them up by the client’s full name, related service and the city in which the client is located.

3. Promote it

After formalizing a process for getting and recording client feedback, it’s up to you to put it to use in your marketing. The more you can reveal that it’s coming from a real person, the more credible a testimonial will be. When possible, use first and last names, along with the city or town they are located in. You could even ask them for a picture to include. Here are just a few examples of where to use client feedback:

Social media posts: Instead of posting an obvious self-promotion of, “We’re having a shrub trimming special now, so contact us!” you can be more subtle by using a client quote. Think how your followers would respond while reading something like this:

“Mike and Jim rock! My shrubs look so much better and this would have taken me several weekends to complete!” –Kay Hoober, San Diego, CA

Print media: Whether it’s a magazine ad, billboard, direct mail piece or even the back of your company vehicle, imagine a prospect’s reaction when they see a client testimonial reading:

“I absolutely love my new patio and outdoor fireplace! It looks like something out of a magazine!” –Adam Christopher, Orlando, FL

Websites: There are multiple places on your website that are perfect for displaying client feedback. Testimonials can be contained in a long list on their own page, even with the capability to sort them by service type. Smaller modules of individual testimonials can be added to a footer, sidebar or within the content of a website page or blog article. Picture your prospect reading your website’s page on landscape design, only to see this great testimonial displayed:

“I had no clue of what I wanted for my backyard, but you made the design process easy and fun! You asked me the right questions to create a space that is breathtaking and that my family loves using!” –Shaina Miville, Phoenix, AZ

In-depth case studies: There are just those clients who have plenty to say and carry a lot of weight. Maybe they just had a huge design/build project completed or they are a well-known commercial property. You could interview them to include multiple quotes within a detailed written case study. Imagine a facilities director at a local college reading an article with quotes from the staff at a rival school.

Video: While it’s always good to display written testimonials, you could also use video to tell the story of the process of the project and communicate the depth of your client’s satisfaction. Your prospect is going to be more apt to reach out for a free consultation after watching a captivating project video, featuring recorded answers from a homeowner’s hassle-free experience with your company.

Become a force to be reckoned with

To be a marketing success, creating and recording client feedback takes a long-term strategy. Over the years, you’ll go through seasons of mediocre, vague responses. But give it your best shot and eventually you’ll uncover client quotes that are sure to get stuck in the heads of your prospects. Keep at it and soon people will recognize the familiar tune of your clients singing your praises.

The post How Client Feedback Can Catapult You Into Stardom appeared first on Turf.

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fusionlawmarketing · 7 years

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Law Firm Link Building: The Guide You Need to Have

One of the most important ways Google and other search engines rank web pages is through the links those pages have pointing to them from other sites. There are some links that are much more effective and important than others, and how those links are acquired also matters.

Just incorporating links does not always work as intended, and in some cases, it can be harmful. Links have to be authoritative and not considered spam, or they can hurt your website’s reputation and actually cause your site to rank lower in the search engine listings instead of higher.

So what can you do?

There are several ways to build links, and using the right strategies can make all the difference. Consider these different options when it comes to getting more links on your site and to your site, so you can rise in the search engine ranks.

The higher you are in the search results, the more likely it is that prospective clients will click on your site and use your services, instead of the services of a competitor. Since it’s (mostly) about the links, you want to make sure you get the right ones and build a strong site, presence, and reputation the right way.

So What, Exactly, is Link Building, Anyway?

In its simplest form, link building is getting links from other websites that lead back to a target site. You see this all over the web, when someone shares a story on social media with a link in it, or writes a blog post and links to that post from their Twitter or Facebook account. They are link building, even if they don’t necessarily realize that’s what they’re doing. But there are also more complex ways to build links.

One of the main goals for anyone, including law firms, should be to get other people to feel compelled to link to their site or content. If an attorney writes an article and links to it on their social media pages that’s good, but if someone else links to that attorney’s article on their social media pages, blog, or website, that’s better. Both types of link building work, and both are important and should be encouraged.

Link Building Through Guest Posting

Among the best ways to build links is through guest posting on other sites. Not only does that get your name out to your target market, but it also allows you to link back to your site.

Of course, you want to be careful what sites you agree to guest post for. Some sites are much more reputable than others, and if you have links back to your law firm’s site from non-reputable sites that could hurt you.

Your search engine rankings could be lower, and you could also potentially lose clientele because of affiliations that look less than professional. Guest posting only on trusted sites that can give you good value through back links should be considered carefully. That way you’ll have more success with search engine rankings, and will have the potential to see your client base rise, as well.

Building Links Through Social Media Usage

Because of the popularity of social media today, it is not just for people to chat with each other and post pictures of their vacations. There are many others uses for it, and one of those is business related. If your law firm has a strong social media presence, you can leverage that presence to link back to your site. Anytime you write a new blog post or put something new on your site, be sure to put that information on your social media accounts.

While you may not want every social media post to have a link back to your law firm’s site, many of the posts can have links in them for clients to contact you or for them to read about something new and interesting that you can offer. With that in mind, though, you don’t want to post the same thing to every social media site. The audience on LinkedIn is different than the audience on Facebook, for example, so it’s important to plan accordingly.

Getting Testimonials to Build Links

If you have testimonials on your site that’s a good thing, but if you have testimonials on other people’s sites with a link back to your site, that’s even better. Those links (and the testimonials they are found in) can be very valuable to your law firm. Encourage them. There’s nothing wrong with asking people for testimonials or asking them to give you a good review if they’re happy with your services. The more you build a good reputation online, the better.

Press Releases and Interviews Can Build Links

Asked for an interview? Have something interesting that your company has done? Making changes to your law firm? You can use all of those opportunities to build links.

A lot of these opportunities are missed because people don’t ask whether they can include a link, but asking can make a big difference. Your law firm should be focused on giving the best service to clients, but also on being sure its reputation is strong and its voice is being heard. Link building is crucial in those areas.

Using Law Firm Directories As a Link Source

Many attorneys fail to realize that law firm directories can be a source of links.

Any law firm directory available online should have a link to your firm in it. If it doesn’t, it’s time to do a search for those directories and ensure that you’re added to them. Not just as a name and address, but with a link to your firm’s home page, contact page, or another specific page you want people to see when they find your information. Other attorneys can find you more easily this way, as well, and that can lead to collaborative efforts, referrals, and more that can increase your business.

The Link Building Bottom Line for Attorneys

The bottom line is that link building is a valuable, nearly vital issue for law firms today. There are a lot of different ways to build links and a number of locations those links can be in. But if firms don’t make the effort to build links effectively and efficiently, they can miss out on a lot of potential clients finding them. Your search engine ranking will be higher when you have good link building, and you’ll get found more easily, as well. That can increase your law firm’s reputation, bring in more clients, and add to your firm’s growth and development for years to come.

If your firm is currently running a SEO campaign or thinking about starting a one, then contact Fusion Law Marketing for help on building your campaign into a success.

The post Law Firm Link Building: The Guide You Need to Have appeared first on Fusion Law Marketing.

from Fusion Law Marketing http://fusionlawmarketing.com/law-firm-link-building-guide/

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topicprinter · 7 years

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Note: This is an x-post from /r/startupsHey guys and gals of /r/Entrepreneur . I am a copywriter with a bunch of years in copywriting. Some time back I pivoted my writing solely on conversion writing for the web and today I hope to help you with some useful tips.I have been an active lurker here for years now and after seeing hundreds of founders sharing their startups here, it came clear that most of them that do it by themselves have very little copywriting knowledge, which always results in bad copy. If your landing page (or app marketplace description) is written badly you will deter potential customers because they will think that your product is as lousy as the storefront you are putting it in. Another danger of bad copy is that it doesn't give your product enough credit by presenting its benefits and features in an unsavory manner. If you don't really show your readers what they can have then they won't buy simply because of the fact that they don't know what you have to offer. If you cannot save them from the pain of solving a problem, then they won't have the motivation to endure the pain of giving you their money or their time.Furthermore, subconsciously we try to appeal to everyone and as a startup that will bring some bad knocks on the door. Would you rather go to the knee doctor to save yourself from the pain of a knee injury or would you just go to the general doctor and waste your time and money there. So make sure to expend your marketing efforts towards the right audience for your product.Following are some tips from my work notes on how to write the best possible copy for your startup in order to maximize the conversion percentage from the visitors you are getting. I have also included copywriting examples from my past projects. I am not selling any book or anything, just giving back to the community. I swear — no bamboozles.1) Appeal to emotion (but not too much)I want you to think of The Red Cross at this moment. Next, I want you to think of Hitler. If you are somewhat normal, you will feel vastly different about the two. The Red Cross are good, they help people and you probably like them. Hitler on the other hand, made you feel disgusted. This example, albeit somewhat extreme, shows how emotions can make you feel about things. This human nature of feeling about things is very important because it leads to action-taking and if you appeal to emotion in a correct way, you can make customers take actions that you would like them to take. This is powerful.There are about 8-12 emotions you can have, depending on which part of the philosophical wheel you spin. They are fear, anger, sadness, joy, disgust, surprise, trust and anticipation. You can use any of these to try to invoke any emotion in your readers. Here is how I used fear to try and get a reader to continue inquiring about the product.Now, there are a number of reasons why you shouldn't overdo this. Striking a balance between appealing to emotion and overdoing it is a delicate thing to do, so proceed with caution. If you are not sure what you are doing, hiring a competent copywriter is a good investment.The reason why you shouldn't overdo emotional appeal is the fact that this can overstate a pain point and thus make it inapplicable to the reader. Another reason is the fact that if you overdo it, it will sound salesy and repel the reader. The final reason is that if you go too far rambling about problems it can become too exhausing for the reader and by the time they are reading it they will feel disconnected from the solution and connected to the problem.There are many things to be said about appealing to emotion, but in order to respect the incoming tip number 4, I will keep it this short. (notice how I use anticipation to get you to read further.)2) Have a great value proposition and make sure they read itAs you probably know, value proposition is the reason why potential customers should pick you and not someone else. In my experience, it's actually your holy message, one that will concisely tell your customer what they will get from you that's not available anywhere else.Your value proposition should be the first thing your visitors see when they get on the landing page. As a startup, this is a rule you must abide in 95 % of the cases.The go-to thing to include in your value proposition is how you differentiate from your competitors. This is called the key differentiator. You might be more convenient, affordable, faster, better, of better quality and so on. Find your why and let them know of it. For example, Apple's is design, Zappos' is customer service, Netflix's is convenience.Now, writing amazing value propositions is not an easy task. Don't be fooled by the talks of guru and their 1960's tricks like writing following a framework like AIDA (attention, interest, desire, action) or similar outdated stuff. In my experience, you are better off thinking about what's specific, succinct, memorable and desirable about your product, then transforming it all in one sentence. Yep, I realize that it's hard, but welcome to running a business!Here is an example of how I presented the value proposition from one of the startups I worked with.There are several value propositions formulas that you can use if you get stuck. My favorite ones are:X, the _____ of ______ (used by reddit itself)We do _____ but _____The only way for _____ to _____With ____ you _____The easiest way for _____ to ______There are tons of ways to differentiate, just know your audience and cater your copy to them by following the above.3) Know your customer better than anyone else. PLEASE!Listen up! You put in A LOT of hours, money and effort into your startup. It wasn't easy, I know. But for god's sake, please make sure that you know the ins and outs of your customers, prospects and visitors. You have to know where they are right now, why they even visited you, what is the best thing you can do for them and what they would like to achieve. The whole premise of existing as a startup is to be the placenta where your customers can plug their umbilical cord in. And you gotta know them really well in order to become the solution to their problem.Your customers might not be the ones you think they are. You might be building a complicated check-in app that includes gamification, location checking-in, future location checking-in, photo sharing and many different features that you think are what they want. Instead, they might just want to share photos. That's how Instagram was born from the ugly monster that Burbn was.Let me say this again. You have to know your customer. Yes, it's tedious to do customer surveys, interviews and tests, but you can only succeed by knowing what they want from your product and then through copywriting letting them know that they can have it.For example, when I worked with a startup that wanted to serve as a bridge for senior advertising professionals and the companies looking for them, know that my target customer was probably a well-educated advertising or hiring professional, I wrote copy that was direct and to the point, thus satisfying their pain points.4) Keep it skimmableThere are billions of websites online at this moment. A large percentage of them probably are targeting your potential customer. Because of this, the customer and all people online cannot afford to spend time reading every sentence of every site they visit daily. This is very understandable and normal. As a startup, you have to understand that most of your visitors won't spend the time to read your entire website. Instead, just like with other sites, they will skim it and only if what they found is of their interested, they will read through the whole site.That's why it's important to make your content skimmable.You can achieve skimmability by varying the size of the text (bigger = more priority, example here), using numbered and bulleted lists (example), including different media, such as videos and pictures (example), and by properly formatting by using bold and italic styles (can be seen on the previous example).Skimmable content is better for the user experience as well, reason being that it decreases the cognitive load needed.5) Have high performing, clear buttons and CTAsYou can't convert your visitors if they don't perform a series of button clicking. Having them click the right buttons is simply why you exist. If they click the buy button, you got them to do what you ultimately wanted them to do. What you don't want is to have crappy buttons and CTAs that will give a reason to visitors to stop.So how do you create great buttons and CTAs?Before even starting to write, you have to consider who the reader is going to be and whether or not what you are writing will do something for them.When writing a great CTA, you want to start with an exciting, actionable verb. Let's use the verb SAVE.Next, you have to add an article (ex. the), preposition (ex. in, to) or a determiner (ex. your). This makes it personable. Let's use the verb THE.After that, you write of something that the customer want, depending on what you offer. MAJORITY OF YOUR TAX DOLLARS.This would result in a CTA with the text SAVE THE MAJORITY OF YOUR TAX DOLLARS, which is a CTA that an accounting advisory startup could use.Depending on the design in which the CTA is placed, I tend to add another sentence, usually written in a smaller font, which brings out the attractiveness of the CTA. Example here.When it comes to buttons, in my experience, 95% of the game is not making them scary. People are scared of buttons online. They provoke pop ups with malware, paywalls, open computer programs, lead to unwanted destinations and to series of other buttons. Yours doesn't, but unless they know you, they don't know that, so they proceed with caution. The other 5% of the game is leading people to a destination that won't require much work from them, cause people are lazy.When creating buttons, following the general consensus is a great idea. Green is go, red is danger. It's a good idea to promise them that you won't hurt them in any way, like I did here.That's it folks. I hope some of you can use what I wrote and make their landing page better.If you would like critique for your site/app copy, let me know in the comments and I will share my opinion with you.Cheers!

#/r/entrepreneur #reddit

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ilbvilbv · 7 years

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2016 Year in Review

Another year has come to an end and I saw a that ty_desoto made kind of like a Year in Review journal and made special mentions to people who impacted his life and I was really inspired to do the same thing!

This time last year I wrote a Happy New Year 2016 Journal: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7282733/ I was excited for the year and everything was going to be great! Though for some reason I went downhill really hard, really fast. By January 8th, I was having a really hard time accepting who I’ve turned out to be. Struggling with my real and fantasy lives, my sexual attractions verses my desires to get married and have a family one day. http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7298765/ I still struggle with it, but it’s less of a crippling pain now. I am living each day as it goes by really. Outside of who already knows that I am “struggling” I’m still not telling anyone else in my real life what I like, because it’s really none of their business. I also don’t really like to mention it at all, maybe out of some desire if I don’t talk about the problem it will go away. Then I started to cheer myself up, along with the support of my incredible friends. I began to read more and understand my moods and how to squash a depressive state of mind. I posted an article I read, 30 Ways to be Happier http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7331441/ and just started to think and do those things. I was feeling good about my existence again, not letting the trivial things bother me. I did have highs and lows all year of course, I had epic dreams about Dragons, I had several bad job interviews, and took bit work where I could find it. Volunteered a lot of time, out of my own wallet to things I was passionate about, both to help the cause and selfishly hoping someone in power noticed me and had me stay on to do more work and be paid. End of the day I am reminded that I'm just a piece in a game for all the higher-ups and my efforts put money in their pockets. Working class, low-income, unemployed. We are the base that North America runs on. It was a silly hope, but I went for it every time I got a shift or was asked if I was interested in coming out to help again. I learned to not have high expectations, so that if nothing happened I wouldn’t have set myself up for disappointment. Then if surprises ever came along they would be all the more exciting. As the beginning of 2016 went on, I made journals about Presence, the clutter of my life, and my desire to be more grateful, because I felt like I was not enjoying all of the things I did have. Someone always has it worse than me, so why am I complaining? Yet when someone needs to vent, its apparently healthy and cathartic, or can be viewed as whiny and attention-seeking. There is such a clash and double-standard in that area. Depending on how someone else feels will determine how they react to what you are expressing. A literal grab-bag of reaction and the possibility of sympathy or scorn. Those events may have been the reason I wrote this journal about how you are important and matter and are cared about: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7416646/ . My birthday came around, March 4, and I had bought myself a present with my Dino Grim, and we enjoyed that together. Also Zootopia had come out and the fandom was exploding with joy and pervish lusting. It took me three Tuesdays to finally be able to see it because every show was always sold out, even the 3D ones. Finally saw it, enjoyed it, and that was that. I wrote two reviews a non-spoiler: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7463351/ and a regular spoiler: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7463347/ . I’ve got no desire to get naughty with any of the characters, but I do agree that Chief Bogo and those Dancing Tigers got me feeling hot and bothered. Vore with them is…desirable. On with the year, I began to feel inadequate again talking with people I looked up to and worrying if I was more of a pest than a fan. I started to feel ashamed of wanting to talk with mated people because I was afraid that individuals would be mad at me for talking to their mates. I was scared and alone again, feeling surrounded by the dark, which I also discovered this year, I am really afraid of. It was a brief period of uncertainty. I purged my Skype of baggage and people I didn’t really talk with, it helped a bit. That was the first time I ever cleaned out my Skype. I just don’t like to disappoint people, and then I get so overwhelmed at the idea of failing that I crumble and fall apart in my heart and spirit. I was an unconfident lump – to which I wrote a journal titled that, but don’t see the need to link you to. If you're that curious feel free to find it. Something that blew my mind in 2016 was learning that the number of favorites that are in the top right corner of your Furaffinity profile page are in fact the number of favorites all your own posted artwork has, not the number of favorites you have in your favorites gallery! Then I got a nice big job that would keep me busy for two and a half weeks! I made money!!! I felt so alive despite the brutal transit to and from work and the egregiously long hours. When I look back on it, I was sadly and sorely underpaid, which was super depressing to learn and reflect on the heart and soul I put into that job and damn, I was actually once again used. I'm still happy and grateful I had the opportunity though because I did meet and make lots of good friends. The FA changed their Icon limit and I had to scale back on who I had featured on my profile. It killed me to cut out so many, but lead me to make a rough directory by species and artists I liked so I could quickly access their pages. My ipad broke this year and that was a blow because I could not afford to get a new one. But the biggest blow was learning I wasn’t needed to go to France this year, and I was crushed because it’s the only vacation I really get and I was so excited to go. Then FA had its huge attack, and I was worried for a while if I’d get it back. All the password resets and the drama of it all, the huge exodus and literally everything about FA changed. It felt lost and new. Just when I was feeling like I could make something of myself there, everyone was leaving. But I am staying loyal to that site forever. Then I had a nice change of events and some good things were happening! I had the opportunity to travel somewhere else instead and I went to Madrid, Spain for the first time! I reached 1000 watchers in 2016, after being in the fandom since 2009, it was a big achievement for me! I came back from my trip alive and on fire, then slowly tried to integrate myself back into FA. It felt like people had moved on without me and I had to catch up or be left in the dust. I did have a date though, but it was terrible and that’s when I again hit a low point. Being unhappy with how I looked, how I spoke, how I tried to convince people to like me. It was my “white crayon moment”. I reached out to my watchers; I wanted to know what they wanted to see. How could I be better? How could I make something of myself? How could I be important and desirable? I talked about how I am intimidated by Artists http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7811583/ and again, inadequacy, worthiness, fear and anxiety. So I went to see Pete’s Dragon and was rejuvenated with love of Dragons and Monsters and all things magical, fantastical and guardians. I suddenly became very, very self-accepting. Meeting people who were afraid to talk to me, and being open and generous with them. I offered them advice and as I was writing it out being totally surprised by what I was saying. I condensed the good meaty part of my advice here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7831109/ Then I got to go to Cuba with a friend and his family, and that was much enjoyed vacation I would have otherwise never had. While there we survived a possible Hurricane Attack, what a rush! I came back home and expressed how much I care about everyone: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7869568/ and how much I freaking love Dragons http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7882423/ Then I talked about how not everyone I meet I have the desire to chat with, its common and normal, but I’ve been on the receiving end of someone who had no desire to talk with me and just wanted me to go away but didn’t actually say it. It feels like to someone ignoring you, that eventually you will just go away and get the message. It be so much nicer if a person was honest and just said they didn’t want to chat. http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7891586/ http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7930422/ I also wrote about the 5 Love Languages and what core things make people feel like they matter to someone: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7891588/ I touched upon leaving comments for people to read on their submissions and journals http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7956092/ One of the biggest things I did in 2016 that was out of my usual life was go to my first ever Con in real life! I went to MFF 2016 in Rosemont and I got to meet a lot of friends in real life for the first time too, and that was kind of awesome. I wrote nice big journal about that too: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7962656/ When I got back home I reflected on myself and some of my characters, how I need to give them some more life and love. http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7963053/ Then I had a whim idea which turned out to me my most successful journal of the year I think, asking all my friends to let me here them roar!!! http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7974714/ It was such fun and I was so honored to have had such a reaction and fun time with it. I love all you guys! Right near the end of the year while I was making Christmas Presents I got into a controversy. I used a picture as a reference and I heavily derived from it. I asked the artist of the picture if I could post it and emailed them a copy, they liked it and approved my posting of this picture, even said thank you for asking first. The problem was, out of a kind gesture I also asked the commissioner of the artwork who’s character I replaced in my drawing with the friend I was giving this too. They were not too happy I used this picture and didn’t want me to post it. They claimed I traced the image. Granted I did heavily rely on certain lines and shapes of the pose, so I can see how it looks that way. I tried to debate my case with this commissioner, who would not budge on the issue. They said if I re-drew the image in my own hand then it would be fine. So I relented, I said I wouldn’t post the picture.

I still gave the picture to my friend anyway, who happens to also be an artist and heavily advocated for me to post the picture in the facts that I have the artist’s permission to post it, and the artist is the one who owns the copyright of the original picture. The commissioner has absolutely no say. I technically didn’t need to ask them at all, I didn’t draw or copy their character in any way. There is a fine line between who owns what in an image and this was sticky gray area.

In the end I have adjusted and redrawn sections of the image, to make it less of a copy and more a reference as is allowed in any artistic situation. My friend helped guide me with suggestions on edits and how to make it more acceptable. So in the future I will post this new image and remind all that I have the artist’s permission to post it and that it is now a derivative of their work, and not a blatant copy. As the ordeal was going on I wrote a journal explaining my views on copyright, I am not sure if I am correct or wrong about what I have written so if I am in need of informing, please let me know. http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7979622/ I ended the year on a more positive note, I am considering going back to school within the next few years. http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7983118/ and I had a good Christmas and time with family. I finished 2016 off with a journal about how it is intimidating to ask artists for trades, especially if their skills are better than yours, but not to be discouraged. http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7999147/ So that’s my year in review with a heck tone of journal links if you are interested in reading more about my time in 2016. I shall write a separate journal making special mentions to those who made my year so great.

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