Day 12 of the 90 Days of Awesome is in the bank! What made today awesome? I got to see the 26 Blocks exhibit.
I was at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Phoenix on to do legal mentoring with attendees at the BALLE conference (BALLE = Business Alliance for Local Living Economies). I had some free time between appointments and as I wandered around the hotel, I noticed the sign for the 26 Blocks exhibit.
26 Blocks is an art exhibit that paired up 26 photographers with 26 writers. Each pair was given a block of downtown Phoenix and told to share part of that area’s story. The result: an art exhibit of 26 photographs with 26 written works and to tie it all together, a sculptor created a cube-based sculpture for each pairing. Here’s one of my favorites:
I’m glad I got to see this exhibit – it gave me a new perspective on part of my city. I’d wanted to see the exhibit when it first opened but I was unable to attend that night, and since then I’d forgotten about it until I saw the sign at the hotel.
Day 11 of the 90 Days of Awesome is in the bank! What made today awesome? I gave the last lecture to my class.
Almost There, Day 228 of 365 by DieselDemon from Flickr (Creative Commons License)
For the last 10 weeks, I’ve been teaching a media business aw class at the Art Institute of Phoenix. Tonight with my last lecture. Their final is next week.
My goal for this class was to help these professional artists develop a working knowledge of copyright, trademark, contracts, and the legalities of running a business. I hope they will be able to have intelligent conversations with their clients and employers about their rights and to know when to call a lawyer for help.
Looking back on this semester, many students told me they were dreading this class because they feared it would be boring and they were pleased to learn that those fears were unwarranted. Many of them remarked that they learned a lot from being in the class and that it should be a required course for all art students. (I agree!) According to my students, several of their classmates were disappointed to learn that I will not be returning to teach this course again. (I have too many obligations that prohibit me from making the commitment necessary to be an adjunct professor. However, I hope to be invited back to the school as a guest speaker in the future.)
One of my students told me tonight that another student in the school who wasn’t in my class asked for a copy of her notes. Another student added that her employer asked for her class notes. I really enjoy a being in an instructor-type role and hearing that the knowledge I impart to my students/audience is being passed on to even more people.
At the end of class tonight, one of my students gave me a thumbs up as he headed out the door. It gives me a deep sense of satisfaction knowing that I’ve helped these 13 students be more effective in their professional lives.
Day 10 of the 90 Days of Awesome is in the bank! What made today awesome? I updated my sites’ terms of service! (I swear it’s not as boring as it sounds.)
Walter Ball!
I write a monthly column for a site called Attorney at Work that helps lawyers run their firms and market themselves more effectively. I love this gig.
Previously, I wrote a post about how I feel when others copy my content. I’ve never said “no†when anyone has asked to use one of my posts for an event or to distribute it to their organization; however, it peeves me when people use my work without asking permission and without adding any original thoughts to the conversation. Unfortunately, too many people think this is permissible as long as they provide in attribution and a link to the original post. Whenever someone does this with one of my posts for Attorney at Work, I get a notification.
I’ll admit, I was pretty annoyed when I saw that someone stole one of my posts today. I grabbed my Walter Ball and played with it furiously while ranting to a coworker. I notified my editors of the situation and asked if they wanted me to call him out. Luckily for him (and me), they are much more tactful than I am. They addressed the situation appropriately and mentioned that they should revise the provision on their site about requesting a license to use or reprint posts. I suggested they add a provision that says failure to request permission in advance is an expression of the person’s willingness to donate $100 to the charity of my editors’ choosing when they discover what the person did. They liked that idea.
I like that idea.
I’ve had terms of service on this site and my law firm’s site for years. Here is what part of it used to say:
I am Not Interested in Unsolicited Emails that Pitch Content or Services
Do not contact me to pitch your SEO, other marketing, or lead generation services.
I’m not interested in a new website design.
I’m not interested in letting you pay me to embed a link on an existing post.
I’m not interested in your infographic.
No, you cannot write guest posts for my site.
Contacting me for any of the above reasons is an expression of your willingness to pay me $100 for annoying me.
Any time anyone sends me in unsolicited email hocking their marketing services or asking to write a guest post, I have a canned response I send that informs them of my terms of service and provides my mailing address for sending payment.
After today’s experience, I decided to change it:
I am Not Interested in Unsolicited Emails that Pitch Content or Services
Do not contact me to pitch your SEO, other marketing, or lead generation services.
I’m not interested in a new website design.
I’m not interested in letting you pay me to embed a link on an existing post.
I’m not interested in your infographic.
No, you cannot write guest posts for my site.
Contacting me for any of the above reasons is an expression of your willingness to pay $10 to the charity of my choosing.
I’ve been telling people to send me $100 for annoying me for years, and so far no one’s paid it. I figured it would be better to ask for less. Hopefully some people will actually do it. It’ll be for a good cause.
I was at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Phoenix on to do legal mentoring with attendees at the BALLE conference (BALLE = Business Alliance for Local Living Economies). I had some free time between appointments and as I wandered around the hotel, I noticed the sign for the 26 Blocks exhibit.
