eChaser: August 2011 / p3

PEOPLE & PLACES

Balcom Agency has been chosen to redesign themodern.org, the website for the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. In addition to revamping the site’s navigation, the Balcom team plans a new calendar system to promote and communicate contemporary art exhibits and community events. A fall launch of the site is planned.

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GET A JOB

For your copywriting pleasure, three openings: writing profiles of top salespeople (off-site, downtown Dallas, 20-40 hours/week), need direct sales experience and sense of humor in writing, temporary right now, might be permanent later; digital display copywriter (on-site, Plano, 40 hours/week), doing everything from adapting of print ads into digital display ads, to concepting on how to tell a story to advertise an event or brand; copywriter (on-site, Plano, 40 hours/week), must understand the importance of brand voice and have great attention to detail. E-mail Leslie Bryan-Spradlin at lbryan@onwardsearch.com with pay rate, the position desired and a résumé with samples.

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PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

Carol Murray, APR, Greater Fort Worth PRSA

August is traditionally the month we focus on diversity in public relations. Our chapter’s diversity goals mirror those of our national organization: to make PRSA more inclusive and welcoming by reaching out to industry professionals of diverse racial backgrounds, ethnicities and sexual orientations.

The featured speaker at our August luncheon will be Thomas Anable from Fairness Fort Worth, an organization formed in the wake of the Rainbow Lounge incident. While we look forward to hearing how Fort Worth is increasing its own diversity efforts, we don’t want to imply that diversity is important only one month in 12. PRSA national has some excellent resources for promoting diversity throughout the year, including PRSA Diversity Today and Diversity Newsroom.

I hope you’ll join us this month, and I encourage you to spend some time on these sites and learn how you can further diversity within our profession and your own organization.

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PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

Laura Hanna, IABC Fort Worth

Happy New Year! August marks the first month of IABC’s 2011-2012 year, and I’m proud to say that the year and the group have gotten off with a bang. Let me start with kudos to Bronze Quill chair Tim Tune and his committee for an exceptional awards luncheon. In addition to a fascinating discussion by Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck on his city’s involvement in the Super Bowl, many of the area’s best communicators were recognized for their outstanding campaigns and individual work.

Special recognition goes to the award of excellence winners — Gerald Urbantke of the city of Arlington; Shelley Hulme, Paige Blankenship and Sally Claunch of Cash America International; Pamela Fry, Rachel Black and Bobby Nichols with Freese and Nichols; and Charles Urich of Sabre Airline Solutions — and everyone who qualified for awards of merit and honorable mentions. This was one of the most competitive competitions in recent years, with some of the best work ever entered. It set high standards for the rest of the year.

The August luncheon will maintain those standards, as nationally known etiquette expert Joy Weaver applies her wit and wisdom to the topic of being socially savvy. Joy specializes in corporate and social etiquette training for individuals who want the confidence to manage life’s awkward moments and master its day-to-day challenges. She is a consultant to companies (think famed Adolphus Hotel and Raytheon) that need their customer service staff to be as socially savvy as possible. In addition to top tips, she also will answer the question, “What are the BMWs of dining?” Hint: It’s not about eating in a car at a drive-in.

The luncheon will be Tuesday, Aug. 30, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at City Club in downtown Fort Worth. Sign-up deadline is noon Aug. 26. Check iabcfortworth.com now for more information and to make your reservation to join us for a memorable and socially savvy discussion.

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OVER & OUT

John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ

In our brave new digital world, what’s private, what’s public and who decides? When state lawmakers finally went home after the 82nd legislative session, what was won — and lost — in transparency and open government? Find out at the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas’ annual state conference in Austin, Aug. 12. In addition to timely panel discussions, an awards luncheon will recognize the 2011 recipient of FOIFT’s James Madison Award and Texas Gavel Award winners by the State Bar of Texas. The Star-Telegram’s Linda Campbell will bring home a Gavel, her seventh, as will First Amendment Awards multi-winner Kathy Cruz of the Hood County News. ...

Conference news! Read all about it! Freelance reporter and new Fort Worth SPJ board member Rebecca Aguilar received a Diversity Leadership Grant to attend the Excellence in Journalism 2011 conference, Sept. 25-27 in New Orleans. Aguilar grew up in what she calls “the front seat of reality,” as her parents, immigrants from Mexico, became advocates and activists in Ohio. By the time she went to college in 1976, she had experienced political protests, job strikes, marches for equality, and even union picket lines. Her parents encouraged Rebecca and her siblings to choose careers where they could help those who are ignored or can’t afford legal help, and that’s why she says she became a reporter: To bring light to community issues and educate the masses. In three decades, she has received 48 awards and nominations for her journalism work. ... Follow the latest conference developments on the Facebook page, via Twitter with the conference hashtag #EIJ11 and on BlogTalkRadio with a recent podcast about what to expect. At the conference website look through the schedule, travel info and anticipated highlights, including a super session with NPR social media strategist Andy Carvin, known widely for his tweets tracking uprising in the Middle East and North Africa since January. ... Once in the building, delegates will vote on several proposed amendments to the SPJ bylaws: One member, one vote. Permit all SPJ members to cast ballots for national officers and directors (proposed by 10 chapters). • Students in pro chapters. Students may join professional chapters when their school does not have a campus chapter (proposed by the board of directors). • Technical corrections. Fix typographical errors, missing words and formatting inconsistencies (proposed by the board of directors). • Quill Endowment Fund. Remove Section 11 of the bylaws to correct the conflict that currently allows SPJ board members to effectively remove a Sigma Delta Chi Foundation board member via the SPJ board’s authority to remove trustees of the Quill Endowment Fund (proposed by the board of directors). Discuss the proposals here.

Caught my eye. Debt deal to crater energy, enviro spending for years to come. ... The president surrenders. ... Michele Bachmann’s spousal sideshow. ... The Texas Tribune: Who pays Rick Perry’s travel bill? ... Rupert Murdoch’s international house of bad journalism; AP interview: Hacking reporter says more to come. ... Sunflowers may heal Fukushima’s radioactive soil. ... Department of Interior appropriations bill a ‘declaration of war’ on America’s basic environmental protections. ... Court tosses FCC’s cross-ownership rule. ... How seawater can power the world. ... Michigan woman faces 93 days in jail for planting vegetable garden. ... Conservative group changes stand: Blacks weren’t better off under slavery. ... Community, rural newspapers ‘surprisingly healthy’; why small-town, local newspapers will outlast many web services. ... 14 U.S. states wracked by crippling drought. ... Are supersize dust storms the new normal for Southwest? ... Sizing the clean economy: A national and regional green jobs assessment. ... NYT begins weekly showcase of its best long-form journalism. ... Bill McKibben avoids the fetal position. ... Reporter accosted after Bachmann comments on migraines. ... Congress bans Department of Defense from getting LEED certification. ... Washington Post: British tabloid tactics are rampant in American journalism, too.

Closing words: “Shelley, the writer of some infidel poetry, has been drowned: now he knows whether there is a God or no.” — the conservative London newspaper The Courier on the death at sea July 8, 1822, of Percy Bysshe Shelley ... “The business of the poet and the novelist is to show the sorriness underlying the grandest things and the grandeur underlying the sorriest things.” — English novelist and poet Thomas Hardy ... “Things start as hopes and end up as habits.” — playwright Lillian Hellman

Closing words II, “John Wesley’s Rule”: John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, is said to have traveled 250,000 miles, preached 40,000 sermons and written, translated or edited more than 200 volumes. He made £20,000 (around $30,000) for his publications but gave most of it away and died in poverty. Though there’s no evidence that he actually wrote it himself, “John Wesley’s Rule” does a fair job of summing up his life:

Do all the good you can,

By all the means you can,

In all the ways you can,

In all the places you can,

At all the times you can,

To all the people you can,

As long as you ever can.