Making Ripples: post-corporate adventures in Floyd County Virginia

Michael Yon - Bread and a Circus, Part 1 of 2

Michael Yon writes about the refugees of Baqubah and why Baqubah had not had a food shipment for 10 months.

Al Qaeda had seized the food warehouses in Baqubah and the authorities in Baghdad responded by cutting off food shipments to Baqubah because they would fall into the hands of al Qaeda.

American soldiers escorted Iraqi truckers to Baghdad and the Ministry of Trade where the real hard part of Operation Arrowhead Ripper was unfolding.

Michael Yon is becoming a master at revealing the complexity of Iraqi relationships and showing first-hand the incredible efforts that our military personnel are putting forth to help Iraqi communities get back on their feet.

This piece, Bread and a Circus, Part 1 of 2, is another fascinating look into the social dynamics of this troubled country and its remarkable people.

Sunday at FloydFest 2007

I had to satisfy my curiosity and see how a second day at FloydFest would seem. I was game to go there and was prepared to enjoy myself, but I wondered if it would be like going back to a circus for a second visit.

It was still an enjoyable experience because FloydFest is not a circus. For the most part, it is real people and real entertainment by performers who are willing to take time to talk with you when they are not on stage. On this second day I saw many things I had missed the first day and it was every bit as enjoyable.

One of the things I noticed on the first day was the Camp Store and I thought it was a fantastic idea!  Today, I stopped in and chatted with John Crawford who came up with the idea of a store last year while camping at FloydFest 2006. He and his wife Jolee created the store to provide campers with the necessities of life like boots, tents, water, camping chairs, etc. It was a successful operation from the very first day. John, Jolee and son Tucker have been working from 8am to midnight all through FloydFest to keep up with demand and they ran repeated trips into town for more supplies.

I have posted most of today's pictures on Flickr and they are in the beginning of the slide show.

The fact that most of the staff, volunteers and vendors are from the local area gave the entire festival a feeling of small-town hospitality. I found myself spending more time chatting with staff and vendors than watching performances.

As a matter of fact, most of the videos I shot of people dancing to the music showed vendors dancing in front of their booths when they weren't waiting on customers. This festival is more of a party and is more light-hearted than any other festival I have seen.

My artist friend Alina Ever plays the 9 ft tall Blue Fairy granting wishes to all and sundry, while husband Chris Deerheart accompanies her playing a native American flute. She granted me a wish and it came true.

Even though it was the end of the fourth day, everyone seemed still seemed to be enjoying themselves although many of the vendors I talked to admitted that they were bone-weary after days of non-stop effort and late night celebration with old friends.

Dancer Vivian of Spiral Hoop Dance was still able to perform so I could video her, but even she said she was beginning to run down. Her hoops are for dancing and are larger and heavier than the hula hoops that were childrens toys. I saw people dancing with her hoops all over the festival grounds so she must have been spreading the word about the spiritual side of hooping.

Natasha the Caterer had the Sushi booth and she sold out several days in a row and had to close the booth for lack of food to sell. That was a surprise for everyone including Natasha! After all this is the Blue Ridge Mountains, not California.

When I arrived at the FloydFest grounds, a cloud had enveloped the festival and the air was damp and cold. By Sunday afternoon the sky was clear and the sun was hot. The booth that sold Apple Crisp with ice cream had long lines of customers standing patiently for their turn.

Potter Tom Phelps had a huge new tent to ward off inclement weather and was doing a land office business.

Eli Shwartz-Gralla of Inner World Glass  had exquisite individually designed pendants and earrings that had to be seen to be believed. They are masterpieces of the glass workers art.

I saw one I wanted to bring home as a present for Gretchen. The pendant had 24 karet gold smoke captured in the twists and swirls of molten glass and I couldn't take my eyes off of it.

However, I need to generate more disposable income before I can afford that $250 bauble. Post-corporate life does have its limitations and limited disposable income is one of them. The freedom we enjoy more than makes up for that inconvenience.

One last image captures the natural joy and artistic freedom experienced by even young attendees. These children found a small puddle left by a rainstorm and were using the mud to draw pictures on pieces of wood. They went about it very deliberately. The boy stirred the mud to a liquid consistency and then both used the liquid as colorant to draw on pieces of wood. These future artists embody the creative energy that infuses all of Floyd County and the area around it.

All in all, it was a fine end to the weekend. I can't wait to get to the Cafe del Sol for a recap and find out what I missed. 

FloydFest 2007 is truly satisfying

I made it to FloydFest 2007 today and it met every expectation, even though thunderclouds threatened.

I could only spend a few hours there but I captured some of the sights and have posted them in a slideshow on Flickr. This was my first Flickr upload and the images seem to be in random order, so bear with me on this. I will get better as time goes on.

For those of you who have never been to Floydfest, it is a yearly celebration of life held on a hilltop just off the Blue ridge Parkway. It gives you a chance to connect with the music of other cultures, eat some of the best food you have ever tasted in an outdoor setting, and celebrate with friends. Thousands brought their tents and RVs this year and are camping out in several well-kept camping areas on the festival grounds.

FloydFest features continuous musical performances on seven stages so you are surrounded by music wherever you go. There are also dancers wherever you look. They range from exotic belly dancers to the Hoorah Cloggers who are an crowd-pleasing Appalachian dance troop.

This is definitely a family-friendly event. Children are playing imaginative games everywhere. There is a section called the Children's Universe where all of the tents feature attractions for children and there are special performances for children.

You see people dancing all by themselves. You see people wearing fanciful costumes or fantastic body paintings. You will probably see more people dancing with hula hoops than you have ever seen before. There were thousands of people just sitting on the grass enjoying the view.

There were booths selling beautiful clothes, others selling fine craftwork, others were selling real estate! They all seemed to be doing a brisk business.

The first thing you notice when you arrive at FloydFest is how happy people are and the next thing you notice is how clean it is. This is the result of a great deal of planning and hundreds of volunteers who handle security, parking, logistics, visitor assistance, and garbage collection. Nothing is left to chance. From the moment you arrive, you feel that you are in a safe space where you can enjoy yourself.

Oh, and did I mention the food? I can think of nothing finer than eating delicious food while listening to great music from all around the world. This is one festival that covers all of the bases. Thanks to Erika and Kris who make this incredible show happen.

I didn't make it to Floydfest today

This is Tommy Bell winching my van up onto his tow truck. I had a complete transmission breakdown on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is one of the more scenic places to drive but there is generally no cell phone reception.

After a morning of chores, I had finally got things wrapped up and headed for FloydFest. The sun was still out and I was happily driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway, one of the scenic wonders of Virginia. I did not have a care in the world and I would easily make it to FloydFest in less than a half hour.

Suddenly, the van sighed, at least that's what it sounded like, and I lost all forward motion. The engine was running fine, but the transmission just quit working and I had no way to get off the highway.

After turning off the engine and restarting it, the transmission started working again for a few minutes and I was able to ease the van onto a grassy shoulder which was firm enough to support the vehicle.

I pulled out my cell phone and saw no bars at all, but the phone worked well enough for me to call Gretchen and ask her to send a tow truck. This was an absolute miracle because the Blue Ridge Parkway has really bad cell reception in this area.

It turned out that I was luckier than I knew because I could not receive incoming calls! My phone would chirp and tell me I had missed a call and had a voice mail from Tommy Bell's Road Service. I would try to call him and I could only get his voice mail. We went back and forth for about fifteen minutes leaving messages for each other.

Once he knew where I was, he called the Parkway Service for permission to pick me up and arrived in about 15 minutes. The Blue Ridge Parkway does not allow commercial vehicles so tow trucks have to get permission to tow stranded motorists.

The rain started just as Tommy arrived. He brought the van and me down into Floyd where Protocol Automotive set about determining what was wrong.

Gretchen picked me up and I spent the rest of the day helping out in the studio under the Winter Sun. I figured if I can't get to FloydFest, I might as well be doing something useful.

I will make it to FloydFest tomorrow.

Incidentally, I would have been OK even if the cell phone had not worked at all. Several people stopped and asked if I needed help and the Parkway Rangers stopped by to check up on me and to tell me that Tommy Bell was on his way. People are really helpful in this part of the country.

Floyd County is beginning to party and it's only Thursday

FloydFest 2007 kicks off tonight and I have been asked by everyone today if I was going to be there. Yes I am, because this is the entertainment event of the season in Floyd County. The town of Floyd has been full of excited visitors since early this morning.

I will be attending FloydFest for three days and will try to capture the spirit of this years event with images and sound recordings. In spite of gloomy weather predictions, the weather has been mostly sunny and seems to holding steady. I will bring boots and rain gear just in case.

I would have been there tonight, except I had to work until 9 pm. I am launching a new business venture which has already created enough interest that I have a backlog of work in the shop and more on the way.

This is entirely new area for me, so I will be posting my progress, discoveries and mistakes in getting it organized and up to speed for the use of anyone who is setting up their own small business in a field that is new to them.

This will not be a conventional start-up, so there may be some interesting ideas falling out of this, especially in the area of marketing.

For those who ask, "Why another project?", I can only say that this was a case of doing something to help someone else and getting enough interested responses that I was up and running before I knew it.

I will post more later. For now, I am going to take it easy this weekend and spend some time at FloydFest.

Perhaps I'll see you there.

Local blogging mimics mainstream media patterns

Now that it has gotten to the point where everyone with a computer can make themselves heard, we are beginning to see a diversity of opinion and viewpoints that will make the traditional news media look tame.

For example, in this small county we have writers who mirror time-honored journalistic traditions, bloggers whose lyric prose makes us want to go out and walk barefoot in streams, and bloggers who keep us in touch with the endearing bits of small-town life.

We have farm bloggers, real estate bloggers, alternate lifestyle bloggers, and church bloggers. More people are joining in every day.

We also have bloggers like myself whose shameless self-promotion rouses the ire of anonymous bottom-feeders who traffic in innuendo and rumors.

In short, we have come to a time where every crossroad community can air their opinions, hopes, dreams, and dirty laundry all at once. It's like having a daily dose of Mother Earth News, The New York Times Editorials, and the National Enquirer, all sized to fit your little town. Local blogging is becoming more like mainstream media every day.

It may seem overwhelming to think of all of those opinions floating around loose, but it's probably better that the good, bad, and degrading commentary be out where it can be evaluated. It could be a useful indication of the mental health of the community.

At this point, it seems that the ratio of uplifting to degrading commentary is about 20 to one. I hope it stays that way. 

UPDATE: The trio of anonymous bottom feeders seem to have taken down their website this morning and scuttled off into a darker place to hide. Life in the country returns to normal for now.

UPDATE #2: Doug Thompson found the person behind the anonymous website that was spewing degrading comments about local officials and local bloggers. It was a Virginia Tech computer science student  who used the pseudonym Andrew Ward Hayden to create a website which he called the "Floyd Free Press". He has now gone online to apologize for his errors in judgment. You can read all about it on Blue Ridge Muse.

Having difficulty learning new things?

Want to learn to use computer technology, write for publication, make pottery, create art, become an entrepreneur, but can't seem to come to grips with actually doing something in the subject area?

It may be that you have difficulty moving out of your comfort zone, or it may be that you don't like feeling stupid or being made to feel incompetent. On the other hand, you may have been raised to believe that some occupations were "beneath" you.

To learn, it is first necessary to consider that there is something worthwhile to learn. If you feel that using computers skillfully or being an artist will make you less socially presentable, you will not be able to embrace the subject with enough enthusiasm to overcome the learning curve.

If your parents or associates look down on geeks or artists or entrepreneurs, they will not greet your interest in these areas with enthusiasm. You need to decide for yourself whether it is more important to be competent in an area or if it is more important to be socially accepted.

Any new occupation requires a learning period. (This includes blogging, by the way.) During this learning period, you will not be competent in the area and it will be counter-productive if you keep telling others how competent you were in some other field. You are playing in a new arena and you need to remove any and all barriers to learning everything you need to be competent in this new area.

Find supportive people who will teach you without invalidating your efforts to learn. If you can't find these people, scour the Internet for information and buy books, if necessary, that give you the information you need.

You absolutely do not need to go to a University or accredited school to learn and become competent. Diplomas and certificates are merely symbols of approval by some organization you have paid for that privilege.

Excellent results are the best proof of skill and competent execution. Learning how to produce excellent results is what you need to concentrate on.

There are times in life when one must learn a new skill to survive and support one's family. I know many  mature men and women who learned to become a superlative waiter, a competent office manager, or a successful small business owner after career setbacks or injuries made it impossible to continue as a highly paid employee of a large company. Some others have jumped off the career treadmill to become artists or organic farmers because they felt that this was a way of life that would provide a healthier lifestyle for themselves and their family.

These people were able to overcome their mental blocks to working in a hands-on capacity at some job because they could see that there was an opportunity and new things to learn.

Learn to produce what people need and want and you will be suitably rewarded. Whether your product is entertainment, good service, or artwork that inspires or amuses, if it is something that people need to make their lives better or at least more bearable, you will be in constant demand.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

My copy arrived yesterday. When I heard the mail carrier slam the mailbox door, I realized that this was "the day".

I strolled down the driveway in the warm sunshine and pulled out the box with its muggles warning and broke into delighted laughter.

I was still standing there holding the book in my hands when the mail carrier came back up the road and cheerily beeped his horn at me.

Through great strength of will, I resisted opening the book until I had finished the chores I had set for myself.

This was a great read. I was able to sample the first few chapters and stop for supper, but once I picked the book up again, I was unable to put it down.

The story line kept me guessing and the tension was maintained beautifully with no let up. When I finally put the book down, it was with the feeling that every loose end was tied up properly.

This was a real masterpiece. J. K. Rowling has well and truly brought the Harry Potter story to a fitting conclusion.

What do people want that I can produce?

That question alone may bring about a reality adjustment on the part of a job-seeker. When I first asked myself that back in 1976, it completely changed the way I looked at employment.

Up until that point, I was taking employment personally. If they were paying me a great salary, they liked me. If they wanted to get rid of me, it meant they didn't like me.

Once I understood the ramifications of the question, "What do people want that I can produce?", I was on my way to understanding the power of "exchange".

Exchange is not just you doing a superlative job and making sure that you deliver everything that you promised. Exchange is what happens when you have a client or an employer who understands the value what you are giving him and he provides the agreed-upon compensation for what you have delivered.

Exchange, by definition, two-way. You provide goods or services to someone as agreed and that person pays you as agreed or gives you some in-kind exchange as agreed.

If we go back to the original question posed at the top of this article, we can see that people need to want what you can produce. You can start out producing work that people want and circumstances can change so that people want something else. If you cannot or do not want to produce that new thing, you need to find new employment.

I learned recently of a hard-working factory manager who was terminated after 25 years of employment because he would not adapt to the computer age. When a company's business absolutely depends on email, a computerized inventory system and a computerized manufacturing system, it becomes painfully obvious that a top manager who resists computer literacy is not only an annoyance, he is a threat to the business.

There is another side to asking yourself the original question. It may blow into view the fact that what they want you to do will destroy your integrity over time.

For example, you are busily assisting a sales team to sell prescription drugs and then you discover that your company is convincing doctors to prescribe maximum doses of its product for all patients for the purposes of increasing revenue in spite of the fact that this dramatically increases health risks.

Or in a high tech company, you may discover that the product or service that you are being asked to deliver is faulty and will damage the reputation of the customer.

Exchange is a funny thing. If you are part of an outright scam or part of something like the previous examples, you will eventually suffer the consequences of an emerging conscience and will experience emotional and health problems.

If you are providing exchange in abundance to someone who wants what you are providing and keeps their exchange in also, you are probably having the time of your life! 

If you, on the other hand, think that your job sucks big time, the exchange is probably out somewhere. You will feel a lot better when it is fixed.

Unconventional ideas about earning a living

Earning money is basically all about understanding "exchange".

If you are able to do something well enough to get paid for it and are smart enough to find people who want what you can produce, you will be able to earn money, no matter how old you are and what your "credentials" are.

Connections, or chance, or who you know are secondary issues, because they will affect how fast you can succeed once someone knows that you can do something that is valuable to them.

Forget about "get rich quick", that's a game for people who buy lottery tickets with every paycheck or are constantly chasing a dream for which they will supply no valuable product or service.

Forget about being "too old" or "no degree", or "untrained". These are merely justifications for failure on the part of employees who are dealing with employers who are so inept or biased that they are unable to recognize good work unless it is performed by someone of the right gender, from the right school, with the right connections. If you insist on working for these people, you need your head examined.

If you are beating your head against the wall trying to figure out how you can make more money, you will resolve your dilemma only when you start thinking, "What do people want than I can produce?".

Then, you need to select your customers, clients, or employers from the people who want what you can produce AND are willing to pay you a fair price for what you are doing.

This is where I part company from those who are stuck in the "unfairness of it all". Yes, we can litigate and legislate until companies stop blatant discrimination against older employees or women or members of a certain race or religion, but laws and lawsuits are not going to help you earn a living today. Go for the exchange and start earning money.

Contribute to whatever activist campaign you choose, but you will find that asking the brutally simple question, "What do people want that I can produce?" will lead you into activities that will earn you money, respect, friends, the whole ball of wax.

Of course you have to deliver what you promise and generate a favorable customer experience time after time, but that is what every successful business person does every day.

The first step is to recognize that making money is all about exchange. After that it really gets easier.

Of course, if the answer to "What do people want than I can produce?" is nothing, you need to get busy and sharpen up your skills.

Can you imagine an educational system where students must ask themselves that question on entering the system and could not graduate until they had an answer for that question?