Making Ripples: post-corporate adventures in Floyd County Virginia

FloydFest 5 - A Celebration of Life

Across the Way Productions outdid themselves this year. Floydfest 5 was an amazing experience for people of all ages.

We experienced a magical transformation today from quiet country roads to a mountaintop celebration of love and family that bridged the gap between genres, cultures and generations.

The infectious rhythms of Country, Gospel and Bluegrass  music caught us up from the moment we stepped on the site. We saw people dancing everywhere all during the day.

The most noticeable thing about FloydFest was the joy we could see others expressing. The happiness level was right up there at the top.

The organization and security at the site was superb. The Across-the-Way Productions team did an outstanding job of creating an event that was fun for children and teenagers as well as for adults.
I recommend this event to my family and anyone else who would like to spend a few days having the time of their lives in a beautiful country setting with a lot of other interesting people.

After a full day of music and bright sunshine, I only have energy to provide you with this small taste of FloydFest. I have many more photos and videos of the event which will be posted on Floyd County Live in the next few days.

One last image for you. Even the staff was swept up in the music. I captured this image as the event began winding down.

I hope you don't miss this unique festival next year. It was a great time for all concerned. To get some idea of the talent we heard, you can buy CDs of the live performances. Check the floydfest.com website for details.

See you next year!

You are not a commodity - Part 2

I said in my earlier post:

If you do not stand out from the crowd, you risk being considered a commodity. This has serious implications for the self-employed business person or artist.

My wife asked me a very good question about "standing out from the crowd" which is worth discussing before I go any further.

Gretchen has begun revitalizing herself as an artist after a twenty-year detour into industry. She is already attracting attention and has begun to exhibit her paintings and pastels in local galleries, but at the same time, she doesn't consider that her work is that different from the works of more experienced artists in this area.

I am not sure I convinced her, but her work is readily distinguishable from the work of the other artists she paints with. To my eye, it is not so much a matter of technique as a matter of intention. No matter what she paints, I feel that she imbues each painting with a certain feeling of life. As her technique improves, she is able to elicit more emotional response from the viewer with less effort.

Once she figures out what she wants to accomplish, there will be no stopping her if she decides to pursue a career as a professional artist.

You are not a commodity - don't act like one - Part 1

If you do not stand out from the crowd, you risk being considered a commodity. This has serious implications for the self-employed businessperson or artist.

Commodities are goods, services, or individuals that are virtually indistinguishable from others of the same type and are usually purchased or hired on the basis of price.

Gasoline, toilet paper, and kitty litter are three product examples that immediately come to mind. Bank cashiers, supermarket checkout clerks, and system administrators are treated as commodities because they are not hired because of their individuality, but because they are a known quantity at a convenient price.

I've made it easier to stay in touch

One of my readers, Kare Anderson,  pointed out to me that I could make it easier for you to keep up with these weblog postings using Feedblitz.

As a result of her suggestion, I have added a Feedblitz signup button at the top of the right sidebar.

If you click on it, a window opens that lets you subscribe to this weblog and receive email updates whenever I post a new article. That way, you don't waste time checking to see if I have written anything new. You will be automatically notified.

I can also use it to keep up with blogs written by friends. I am so busy right now that I don't have time to surf the internet, but I can still read my email and see what is happening while it is still fresh.

Let me know if you find this feature useful.

The week winds down - FloydFest begins!

FloydFest is a three-day World Music Festival held annually in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia, showcasing great examples of World, Bluegrass, Reggae, Folk, African and Appalachian music, as well as quality local Arts and Crafts.

The festival started late today and the FloydFest business office across the hall from my office sits empty and silent after months of non-stop activity.

People would ask me how I could stand working near so much noise and commotion, and I would laugh. There was so much energy pouring out of that office it was electrifying.

A memorable afternoon at Wildwood Farms

We drove a few miles south of Floyd, VA on Route 221 and found Wildwood Farms, where owner Judy Bowman has created a visual feast of daylilies and has also found a way to create a memorable experience for her customers.

Gretchen and I spent several enjoyable hours there. Gretchen searched through 1200 varieties in 30 garden beds to find the daylilies she wanted while I relaxed in a shaded swing seat or photographed daylilies that interested me.

By the time we were finished, Gretchen had selected ten varieties for planting at home and I had taken photographs of a hundred other varieties that caught my eye.

For more pictures of Wildwood Farms and their incredible assortment of daylilies, go to my Floyd County Scenes weblog.

Make sure you visit the Wildwood Farms photo albums.

Sometimes it takes more than one sign to get your attention

I was hurtling along a winding country road a few days ago when I ran over a long section of warning bumps and came up on this quadruple set of stop signs.

It made me laugh, but it also made me think. This crossroads is out in the country, but they must have had a good reason to erect four stop signs instead of one. Enough people must have been killed or injured at this intersection to warrant this quadruple warning.

As I drove through the intersection and into the countryside beyond, I started thinking about my own situation. I was on my way to a convention for non-profit organizations and I was double-booked much of the day. I had even skipped breakfast so I could make the thirty-five mile trip in time for the opening speech.

Coming 'Round the Mountain

One of the unique pleasures of living and working in Floyd, VA is that I am continually being exposed to people with unconventional ideas and boundless enthusiasm.

One of the most stimulating people I know in this regard is Woody Crenshaw, owner of the Floyd Country Store, driving force behind 'Round the Mountain: Southwest Virginia's Artisan Network, and among other things, president of Crenshaw Lighting, in Floyd, Virginia.

Unlike many visionaries who radiate energy and charisma like a Klieg light, Woody's low key approach is more like the quiet and irresistable force of nature that enables blades of grass to break through cement pavement.

He seems to accomplish whatever he sets his mind to, and that may be a result of his efforts on behalf of the greater good. When a person's actions are designed to improve conditions for those living and working around him, it is hard to resist those actions.

It is almost as though a sympathetic magic exists which favors the bold and those who work to improve conditions in life.

There is always a price for striking out in a new direction

One of the first things you learn about doing something new is that there are some people who will disapprove of the way you are doing it. These are "yesterday's experts" who are threatened by the changes that you represent.

My good friend Fred First, bemoans the fact that a literary magazine and a book fair have recently turned him down because his excellent book was not produced by a "reputable publisher".

It makes me want to whack him up the side of his head because he still doesn't get the fact that his work is valuable because of what he has written, not because of his publisher.

He seems to think that a "reputable" publisher's name on a book is an imprimatur that means something to prospective book buyers. It only matters to literary critics and they don't buy books!

Publishing houses do not set standards. They are desperately trying to defend their existing markets from incursions by self-published upstarts.

Social skills vs technical skills - a marketing exercise for medical practitioners

Over the years, our family has had varying degrees of satisfactory experience with doctors, dentists, physical therapists, and veterinarians  who have repaired or attempted to repair things that went wrong with our bodies or our pet's bodies.

The doctors, vets, and so forth that we remember most fondly are the ones who had superior social skills, even when they turned out to be less than correct in determining and fixing what was wrong. This group treated us as individuals and stayed in full communication with us even when they could not fix something.

The doctors whose technical skills towered over their social skills often pulled off medical miracles but are remembered with annoyance, even distaste. This group fixed what was wrong and treated us as objects. We were remembered as the "knee replacement" or the "oral surgery" with UnitedHealthcare medical insurance.

This goes to extreme lengths in some medical practices where the doctor asks you a question with a recorder in his hand. You describe what you are experiencing and the doctor says to the recorder, "Patient is unable to localize the pain but thinks she is doing better."

My response would have been to take the recorder and dictate, "Doctor unable to confront patients. Needs to overcome fear through appropriate training or therapy."