I am a Flip Femme Fatale! Absolutely love capturing video with my Flip camera and turning out these little stories on YouTube.
After I wrote about my Joy Bucks Club dinner last week I edited this short video from my Flip camera which I always have with me.
At my day job we are now part of the Flip Spotlight Foundation and we have just received notification that we have been selected to participate in the YouTube Nonprofit program. These are great initiatives to be part of and in my opinion, all nonprofits can instantly convey their story in a visually impactful way. Way more image, way less text.
On Friday, I am heading down to Poet’s House in Battery Park for the Littap Conference where I will serving as the moderator of the book publishing panel.
do i trust that elephant head hovering above me?
I am curious about what this gathering of literary organizations thinks about how new technologies are changing the future of the book.
Last week, I attended an intimate gathering with 300 people at the Harvard Club where we had breakfast with Chris Brogan, Julien Smith, David Maister, and Charlie Green. They talked about issues of trust and how they relate to the way to do business. It was $25 to attend which included a complimentary copy of both The Trusted Advisor and Trust Agents plus breakfast for that cost.
trust agent summit
This is what I realized:
Chris has been giving away the content of this book on his blog and building a base of readers who value this and, perhaps more importantly, his generosity. Why would they buy the book if the content is already out there? Because we are lazy human beings that like getting stuff and getting fed. That is what Seth would say. Even though I agree, I would try vigorously to be nice about it and say something like, “I am buying the experience of being in a trust agent summit with the authors in a stunning space where there is a head of an elephant suspended above me and breakfast is being served.”
But it is so true. The book is an afterthought for me. It is a byproduct of Chris’s blogging and personal/professional beliefs. As a customer, subscriber, reader of his blog I am part of a much more desirable market share. We trust him and will gladly buy any experience he presents to us. Books too.
Is there a lesson here for book publishers, literary magazines, small independent presses? Can they recreate a similar structure for themselves and their reader community? Can literature be enjoyed this way?
The way I see it, Chris and his crew gatejumped the traditional process of becoming a published and recognized author neatly circumventing the gatekeepers of the publishing industry. I like that.
On Friday, I will be asking my panelists five questions about this topic and I am looking forward to hearing what they think.
When Esther called it “the smart girls club” I immediately invited her to join us for dinner.
esther and hoong yee
“San San, Huong, Judilee, Cheryl, Roberta…. how fabulous and fun!!!”
The Joy Bucks Club, as we are known, gathered for dinner during the annual Grantmakers in the Arts Conference that took place from Sunday to Wednesday, October 18th to October 21st at the Brooklyn Marriott. We are a funloving group that, at first blush, seems to be populated by overachieving and probably overcaffeinated Asian women in the nonprofit world. Oh, and many of us are with nonAsian men, but I digress.
the joy bucks club at long tan
In Atlanta, the Joy Bucks Club opened its cab doors pulling in others, and as long as they fit the criteria of loving to eat, drink and laugh a lot, they were welcome to drive off with us to one of Atlanta’s awesome restaurants and join us as Joy Buckeroos.
Since I am one of the locals this time, I suggested we go to Long Tan for dinner. Close enough to the hotel to allow folks like Moy to get back for the cabaret at 9:00 pm. And to show just how thrilled I am to see my fellow Joy Buckeroos, I decided to create tattoos for everyone.
So, here I am on a rainy Sunday, glaring at my printer which is now out of ink, hours after this bright shiny idea first popped into my head.
Can’t print, can’t figure out how to center instructions on the back, can’t concentrate with Sponge Bob in the background!!!! How am I going to get to WOW if I can’t get through this tech hell!!
I must remain calm. Slowly, I sink into a deep breath, dispel my demons and summon my eleven year old son, Sky.
“Please please please fix everything.”
I look forward to seeing this group of friends every year and I feel especially inspired to ensure that everyone has a great experience here on my home turf. It is an honor and such fun to be among some of the most creative thinking people in the arts so I really really need to get these tattoos done!
Sky hands me my freshly printed tattoos – and directions from Rockaway to Brooklyn in case I get boggled by my GPS. And he also reminds me to get more ink for the printer.
There is nothing like being prepared. I made sure I had everything I needed for a fabulous Joy Bucks Club evening – Sky.
We ran the Tufts 10K on Columbus Day, my sister Hoong Wei and I. What that really means is that we ran vigorously in front of every photographer at the beginning and at the end of the race and everywhere there was a downhill. Since breathing is difficult for Hoong Wei, we decided to walk the race and try to get in under 2 hours which we did. We won!
Lung cancer is a bitch.
For all of the years when young children and messy lives prevented us from finishing a sentence, this run was the one moment in time we could have a conversation, just the two of us. The run is still ours, but now with the uninvited and demanding presence of cancer.
Hoong Wei is a gamechanger. If not for her sheer will and determination to beat her lung cancer, she would have been long gone according to her doctors. Yesterday afternoon, she and Howie took us sailing. She taught Sky how to steer the boat while yelling at the rest of us to lean and duck so we wouldn’ t get smacked in the head by the mast.
Gowjees, for those of you who don’t know what the heck I am talking about, are potstickers. We had about a thousand or so of all kinds for lunch – steamed, pan fried, microwaved, toaster ovened. So imagine the weight shift of the boat with all of us tumbling around.
howie and hoong wei
And as if that wasn’t enough movement to digest a dynasty of gowjees, we sailed home to eat an early carbo loaded dinner and headed out to Hoong Wei’s ice hockey game. Yes, she plays defense for Twister Sistahs! The high point for me was when she got put in the penalty box for some overly aggressive action.
hoong wei in the penalty box
Why a gamechanger? She thinks this way: I can fool cancer by making it think it doesn’t belong here while I am sailing, playing ice hockey and running for photo ops in a 10K. I have fooled it for 3 years – what an idiot! I will continue to do so by living the fullest cancer free, happy and healthy life every day.
My sister, the gamechanger. Me, I am a gowjee eater and her biggest fan.
Never wear studded Charles Jourdan boots when you have a wall of meetings in Washington.
You will have to remove them before entering any buildings if you do not want to set off the metal detectors and then, to further detract from your already tight schedule, you will have to hobble around clutching your boots, your bag, your now cold cup of coffee and what is left of your dignity looking for a place to sit down and put your boots back on. Thankfully my knitting bag does not cause the alarms to go off and that is only because I, like all nonprofit knitters, travel with bamboo needles. Who needs this?
Yes, dear reader, you are right. I nonchalantly dressed for Washington as if I was in New York.
Note to self: This is not a good idea!
Katherine and I are pitching an innovative art and business idea to folks at the National Endowment for the Arts and on the Hill who work on appropriations. She has two pairs of glasses. One pair is a dangerous shade of purple that I love and the other pair immediately confers an aura of conservative efficiency – good for these types of meetings. However, since I am stomping around in my studded boots wearing a pair of killer designer glasses – I am from the creative sector, hellOOO!! – she is wearing her purple pair.
We are on a fact finding mission to see if there is any interest and traction to our idea, to ask for advice from the most junior to the most senior senate staff members we end up speaking with. Katherine is smooth as she opens, I take her lead and follow with an evocative example or two, we are sincere in our appreciation for that valuable insight about a senator’s current thinking, our notes snare every nuance, every spoken and unspoken piece of advice. We notice when the eyes light up.
“Where is 2314? Is there a 23rd floor?” I ask. The elevator only goes up to 4. “Some people think that having an address with four numbers sounds better than three numbers. Is that what’s going on?”
“They do it to confuse the terrorists. They’ll get totally lost looking for the 23rd floor and get caught.” Katherine says. She is my native guide in this marble jungle. We get into the elevator and she presses 3.
Katherine and I have hit the sweet spot of our pitch by the time our last meeting is over. We are exhausted and exhilarated at the same time. The terrain has been scoped and we will return as she wolves in January to close in on our prey with a finely honed request.
I write about the art of happiness with style notes for creative people who want to make life their everyday passion. What's yours? 
