Titz'nGlitz, Nuts4Ribs and just plain nuts...

Three letters are listed below. I was going to respond to the first one but my beloved colleague in life, Shannon Kehoe, beat me to it. Her letter embodies everything that went through my head when I read the first letter so I won't go repeating what has already been said. I've also included a great one from the Titz 'n Glitz coordinator.

Keep in mind in reading all letters that Nuts4Ribs brought in 1,500 people and raised over $23,000 in support of research to fight testicular cancer - and this is just its first year! Really organizers, I'm blown away. For a recap of the fantastic event, click here or simply do a google search to bring up the many articles that this event earned for its amazing efforts. Sorry Clarke, but I think you're on your own here.

Remember everyone, the world is changing out there and we need to change the way we look, talk and think about cancer. Stay aware, stay informed and stay healthy! Make sure to check out and support both great causes.

Offensive terms

I found Titz n’ Glitz offensive. Now I have to deal with Nuts4Ribs. Having been a health care social worker before retirement, I feel that cancer is demeaning enough to the body and the person, causing such effects as weakness, pain and sometimes the need for a great deal of intense, stressful medical care. Let’s not belittle that further by giving cancer fundraising campaigns such cutsie, inane and, to some people including yours truly, offensive titles.

One can try to be a bit less serious about quite burdensome matters, at times, but this seems to border on the ridiculous. This comes from one who in no way considers himself a Puritan.

How is it that such words as "tits" and "nuts" can be thrown around by adults, but it’s considered "off base" when children mimic parents and use such terms? There seems to be an issue of mixed messages herein.

There’s usually a public outcry when the topic of proper sex education at school arises. There needs to be an outcry in our community, now, to curb these outrageously named campaigns. If people are offended by the name, why would they give money or credence to otherwise worthwhile causes?

Clarke McKenzie, Dartmouth

Raising profile

Re: Clarke McKenzie’s Aug. 27 letter "Offensive terms." As an attendee of Nuts4Ribs, I would like to say that there was nothing inane about the testicular cancer event or its name.

Society has deemed human reproductive organs taboo. Many people are uncomfortable discussing testicular, ovarian or breast cancers. Sadly, that taboo can cause embarrassment to people afflicted with those cancers.

The purpose of Nuts4Ribs was to draw attention to a low-profile disease and to start conversations among men and their families; testicular cancer is the No. 1 cancer killer of men in their 20s and 30s.

Cancer is not a laughing matter. Please, though, consider this: A fundraiser about cancer is not a hard thing to market. But one about testicular cancer? That’s a little more difficult. The name Nuts4Ribs makes a sensitive topic easier to discuss, while targeting those young men most at risk.

Taboos may halt open dialogues, but they do not slow the rate at which testicular cancer affects men. There needs to be an outcry in our community, now, to curb the ignorance and fear that surrounds low-profile diseases.

As for Mr. McKenzie, I would like to personally invite him to next year’s Nuts4Ribs. Perhaps by attending the event, and enjoying a plate of ribs, courtesy of yours truly, he will be able to see the excitement and empowerment that Nuts4Ribs bestowed upon the attending men, healthy and cancer survivors alike.

Shannon Kehoe, Communications Chair,
Nuts4Ribs

Serious laugh

Being the Titz ’n Glitz Chair for the past three years, I felt I must respond to Clarke McKenzie’s view regarding the name of our event ("Offensive terms," Aug. 27 letter).

Titz ’n Glitz is celebrated among breast cancer patients as an avenue for release and a source of financial help. Twelve years ago, breast cancer patients were asked what they thought of the name Titz ’n Glitz. It was empowering and they loved it! A Titz ’n Glitz event is something to look forward to… a celebration of women, to remember the loss of a loved one, to laugh or cry and have a great time, even if only for a few hours. We bring levity to a stressful time while also providing funding for everyday needs.

Titz ’n Glitz has distributed over $700,000 through our society "On The Front Line" to breast cancer patients across Nova Scotia. It’s odd how no one expresses outrage at the references that are used daily to describe women and their body parts. Instead, Titz ’n Glitz supporters have embraced one of these expressions, making a powerful statement! We are very serious about what we do and most people "get it."

Laughter has always been the best medicine. Come to a Titz ’n Glitz event and you’ll see what I mean. (Sorry, no fellows allowed!)

Christina Fisher, Event Chair 2007,
Titz ’n Glitz

On the beach

Newf: "Aww...look at that old man running with his old floppy dog. I hope I'm still running when I'm that age."

Ben: "I hope I'm still running tomorrow..."

Newf: "Awwwwwww! That was so sweet!"

Ben: "Huh??"

Newf: "What you just said - I hope I'm there running with you. Isn't that what you said?"

Ben: "Ugh...I wish it was. I'd be adorably romantic. Can we still say I did??"

Newf: "No, I'm quite certain you ruined it."

Ben: "Damn."

Web 2.0: Not as liberating for journalists

I read a very interesting perspective on the evolution (almost extinction) of traditional journalism. It's a pretty harsh contrast to the excitement that technology and interconnectivity has added to my profession:

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The public is shaping news agendas as never before. Online editors can quickly see which stories "click" with readers. News risks becoming a "hit" parade, a top 10 list of most clicked items. How long before Australia gets its own version of Las Ultimas Noticias, Chile's most widely read newspaper? The paper, according to Knobel, has "a system where all clicks onto its website are recorded and displayed in the newsroom. The clicks — and the popular vote they represent — determine the print content of the newspaper. If a story gets many clicks, it will be followed up and similar stories will be written. If a story doesn't get enough clicks, it and its follow-ups are spiked".

Stories about climate change are a "hit" with readers now, but they weren't 10 years ago. News is not just what matters to me or you in this instant. As Tremayne writes: "Unless bloggers begin covering school board and city council meetings, major and not so major crimes, serious and not so serious accidents and fires, weather, issues of importance to the few and to the many and issues of little interest to themselves — all this on a daily basis — they will not provide the services now covered by the mainstream press."

Click here for the full story.

My dear Slevy

I told you that the MSVU PR crew is the best! Here's more proof from another dear afterwork love-of-my-life, Sarah Levy, who was featured in the Halifax Chronicle Herald today:

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Good communications officers "need to be able to put on the shoes" of the people they are delivering a message to and anticipate their needs, be they visuals or sound bites for the media or charts and graphs for a business audience.

Ms. Levy bristles at the terms spin doctor and communications flack that the media use to describe her profession. She says while trying to portray a company or agency in the best possible light is one part of the job, that can always be done with a clear, truthful message.
"For me, the responsibility to present the truth is the same as it is for a journalist or a good leader. It’s never about trying to muddy the waters."

Click here for the full story.

National coverage!

Great job Nuts4Ribs folks! Fantastic event, great weather, and awesome coverage from coast to coast! Can't wait for next year...

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How nuts is this? Organizers are asking people to "grab your meat and come out to Atlantic Canada's first ever ribfest fundraiser for testicular cancer awareness."

Called Nuts4ribs, the fundraiser this weekend in Bedford, N.S., features rib cook-offs, music and a nationally acclaimed one-man play by Daniel Schneiderman, titled My Left Nut, a humorous look at testicular cancer.

Behind the unique fundraiser is Michael Kydd, who works in communications with the Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation and who was diagnosed with testicular cancer three years ago.

Kydd says he didn't know the warning signs of the disease before he was diagnosed. "What I'm trying to do is make sure men understand that by ignoring these warning signs, you're not doing yourself any good."

So what's the connection with ribs? "The best way to a man's soul is through his stomach,'' Kydd said.

"We said, 'Well, what do men love?' We didn't want to have a hamburger event, so what we decided is to have a ribfest."

Click here for the full story

Projected Summer Plan 2007

Month 1: Get settled in job.
Month 2: Get settled in apartment.
Month 3: Get social life back on track.

I'm almost two months into the job already. Oh, how time flies when you're getting thrown into a big-boy job! Still having a blast, still learning a lot, still suffering through the pressures of french language testing (currently C-level for comprehension and reading, B-level for writing).

The apartment is coming along in leaps and bounds. We will work obsessively for a day, then do nothing but eat, drink and sleep throughout whatever carnage we created in the process. We are a dining room table and a few hung pieces of artwork short of completion. I can't wait! The chair and a half? Still a depressing 5 weeks away...

I have been loving life lately. PR folk really make for the best social engagements, the kind that take days to recover from. I've been in regular contact with representation from all my favourite acronyms: CNS, NSHBA, ARR and the always hilarious crew from NSBI. Appearances at Il Mercato, Niche, The Old Triangle, The Argyle and The Bitter End have just about secured my newfound happiness and freedom, the kind that only comes with the bi-weekly realization that: No way!! They sent me ANOTHER cheque! THIS IS SO AWESOME!

Happy payday folks! This will really never get old...

May I speak with the manager?

The newf has been off all summer, as many hardworking teachers across the world are, and has therefore been doing an absolutely wonderful job at getting our collective lives together. His day today was spent mostly on the phone getting banking changes, insurance additions, address changes, furniture repair (nothing new or expensive, don't worry), etc.

His last call of the day was to cancel a Mastercard with such an insanely high interest, I don't even want to think about how much money was sucked out of him. Not to mention, the poor guy was one of the few to get badgered into the random credit card insurance that charges you a dollar for every hundred you spend in case you die. He had called before to cancel the insurance once he realized that no one else got suckered into it and was transfered back and forth between two companies and many call centre folks who put him on hold until he eventually just got fed up, as most human beings would.

Today, after many months (years?) of paying insurance fees, he called back to pay off the card in full and cancel it - which he assumed would ultimately just be easier than trying to cancel the insurance. Call centre man, upon realizing he was about to lose a customer, clicked twice and said: "There you are sir, the insurance has been cancelled. I'm very sorry for the hassle."

May I just make it very clear that I hate that this is how the world works today? Average Joe customers get the run-around on a daily basis simply because they were born with common courtesy and manners, while any other customer can get pretty much whatever they want if they raise enough of a stink. I remember having to refund customers CASH for shoes they bought two years earlier, wore the soles out, and lost their receipt, while the pleasant customers sans receipts whose shoes were bought within the past month with stickers still on the bottoms had to settle on a gift card for the new sale price since they couldn't prove what they paid.

Of course I'm very happy that the newf is now silly-insurance free, but I'm very sad for the world that is encouraging everyone to be demanding, unpleasant jerks to ignorant, difficult salespeople in order to come to an understanding.

Who do I direct this complaint to in order to see some results??

A double entendre making a difference

Let the PR shout-outs and classmate networking ring loud and clear! I continue to be so incredibly impressed with and proud of some of the wonderful individuals that I shared classes with for four years at Mount Saint Vincent University. Truly, those folks were the cream of the crop, proven by the many that are already out there making big splashes in the world. First, congratulations to the organizers of Zombies for Humanity for putting on such an original and ghoulishly entertaining fundraisier - also one of the first I've attended with frequent use of the C-word...all in good british fun of course! Next, let's look to the future for the next big thing from the MSVU PR crew!

Grab your meat and head to Nuts4Ribs on Saturday, August 25 in support of the fight against testicular cancer - the cancer of choice for men in their 20s and 30s. Backed by the organizational talents of a true superstar and cancer survivor, Mr. Kydd (the name even sounds like a champ!), and already supported by over 250 facebook members, the day is sure to be an absolute delicious blast. Yes, yes, I understand that as a vegetarian it may seem to be a conflict of interest...however, the whole life-saving aspect trumps the animal-munching qualities. And really, I won't lie, ribs were always one of my favourites.

The links for more information are below. See you there!

Official Website
Facebook Group
Facebook Event

A call to action

Yesterday I took part in what I consider to be the truly greatest activity of life: afterwork cocktails. Now, I understand that many people will roll their eyes ("There goes Ben, talking about booze…AGAIN") but I really think the value of the afterworker is understated.

This was the first time since my first week of work that I went to a bar straight from the office – in a much less alcoholic way than that actually sounds – and it was absolutely lovely. Just myself and one of my university colleagues for whom I have a great deal of love and respect. Not only is she extremely smart and quick-witted, she seems to have an uncanny ability to make those around her feel wonderful about themselves. No wonder she got snatched up by Communications Nova Scotia. Believe me, I’m already looking for ways to bottle and sell her.

The afterworker should be respected for many reasons. First off, no matter what profession you find yourself in, you’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who understands what you’re going through and is as interested in it as you are. It is important to keep a few people in the same field so that you can vent, brainstorm, network, and talk about all those fancy work-related things that you couldn’t pay your significant others or family members to listen to.

Second, when you’re first starting your career (if you’re anything like me), you’re still excited every week when you get a REAL paycheque, or when your business cards are delivered, or when your boss congratulates you for hard work. To a likeminded professional at the same point in his or her life, giddy schoolgirlery ensues rather than the raised eyebrows and accusations of dorkdom from everyone else.

Third, being buzzed by 6:00 p.m. is much better than being home loading the dishwasher and ironing tomorrow’s outfit.

My wonderful date last night and I seem to be neck-and-neck in life right now – both getting situated in new jobs, both moving in with our ball-and-chains for the first time, both pretending we don’t love the faux-married life as much as we actually do, and both desperately concerned that our late-night dance-a-thons that left our thighs hurting for days are a thing of the past. Have we doomed ourselves with the comfort of curling up after work for low-key evenings for the rest of our lives?

Despite the new chair and ottoman that I ordered over the weekend in chocolate brown, the answer, of course, is no. We have made a pact to drag each other away from the lure of evenings in sweatpants, opting instead for a weekly afterworker soaking in the beautiful Boston Martinis at my favourite haunt, The Bitter End.

Fight the boring old couple stereotype! Break free from your at-home routine for a better, alcohol-infused routine! Give the boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife/roommate a night off from listening to you talk about your job and make them pick you up from the bar instead! Guest star at the new, weekly afterwork extravaganza!

Overdue for an intelligent post

After my first full four weeks at the new job (how long do I call it new for?) and moving into a new apartment, I finally feel like I can catch my breath. Thanks to my maniacal unpacking and cleaning obsession and the start of a 10-day absence of my housemate, I am beginning to find the hardwood underneath the cardboard boxes. With my newfound quiet time, I’ve been able to reflect a little bit and let the past month sink in.

I tend to digest life by writing it out – which I’m sure doesn’t come as a surprise since you’re reading about it right now – but sometimes those ramblings actually have a larger purpose. I used a chunk of random writing as an email thanking one of my wonderful university professors (found here). While I have retained quite a bit of irritation with the administration of the university, I cannot say enough great things about the public relations faculty that pushed me to where I am today. Just wanted to make that painfully clear…

In my last full semester of classes, I took an employee relations course despite not envisioning a direct link to my ideal future career path – an odd thing to think considering the real world looks awfully different outside of the classroom. Instead, I took the course as I knew Dr. D would once again present a unique perspective on a topic I assumed was all newsletters and intranets.

While much of the course remains overshadowed by the tumultuous presence of the virtual-reality-that-must-not-be-named, the exposure to internal issues stuck with me only to play a huge role in my current position. I specifically remember watching a documentary about the Westray tragedy that showed the detrimental consequences of a disconnect between employer and employee.

Flash-forward to the present.

The project I am working on is dedicated to protecting the health and safety of our employees and opening the lines of communications to identify and remove potential risks. The national project encompasses many stakeholders, both internal and external, and is showing me that sometimes corporations can get it right and really look past the dollar in order to proactively manage employee safety and satisfaction. Also, for all the students out there, don't write off certain courses thinking they won't apply to you. For one, if you're planning on being the next Samantha Jones, a BPR is not the place for you. Second, you won't have a clue what you'll be doing until you're doing it and even then, it may take a while.

As for me, my public relations career is now completely entwined with employee communication in an exciting, validating way that lets me continue to fight the ‘most likely to sell out’ predictions.

Ahhh…life is good!

10th Circle of Hell

There are a few things in life that put me in an extremely volatile, irrational, angry, sad, horrible state of existence. One is the thought of any entity beneath me in water. For that reason, I don't go on whale-watching tours, or think about underwater mountains and crevaces. Easy enough. This week, however, I have found myself fully submersed in something even more hateful than an underwater environment. Oh yes, it's that bad.

I'm moving again.

I hate moving. Not only that - I would even argue that moving is right up there with drug/alcohol abuse as a ruiner of lives. It turns all of us against one another. Harsh words are exchanged, attitudes are thrown about without regret, muscles are flexed, and regularly adorable, pleasant people like myself find themselves perspiring in public and suffering from raging outbursts.

To raise the stakes even higher...I'm moving in with my newf. BIG. FREAKING. DEAL.

Now, we started packing on Friday. It is now Wednesday and the work has been steady all week. Boxing, taping, lugging, driving, unpacking, cleaning. We have made well over 15 trips with numerous cars loaded with stuff. The worst part? WE HAVEN'T EVEN STARTED MY STUFF YET!

With a childhood split between The Netherlands and Nova Scotia, I got used to travelling light, i.e. throwing away 30% of my belongings with each move. For that reason, I might be able to muster together two full carloads max. We're basically cross-breeding a minimalist and a avid collector lacking any collection criteria.

I am staring a year of coexistence with a packrat and must say, I'm a little nervous.


On a happier note, is everyone going to Zombies for Humanity? Shaun of the Dead is being screened one night only (August 9, $10) at the Oxford Theatre in support of Habitat for Humanity. A hilarious movie, a good cause - what more do you need?