A Little Optimism for the Week.....

I get a newsletter called Fishful Thinking from Goldfish Crackers. Most times, it just gets deleted, but this time it really struck me and I want to share it: (I can't link it since it's in my email)

"I have come to not like the suffix “er”. Happier, Smarter, Better, Neater, Thinner...no matter how much we have achieved, we can always throw on an “er” and the quest to take it to the next level continues. Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not opposed to self-improvement, skill enhancement, or excellence. But the problem is, that all this “er-ing” can make us forget that we might already be happy enough, smart enough, good enough, neat enough, and thin enough. I think of this as the battle between improvement and contentment.

Contentment – appreciating who you are, what you have, and what is enough—is as important for children as it is for parents. Naming what we are content with and have enough of teaches our children that despite the “er” culture in which we live, it is important and healthy to relish things with which we are satisfied. We don't always need to strive for more. Focusing on what is enough teaches children to feel grateful for what they have received and to be proud of who they are. It reminds us to savor and celebrate what is good, right and satisfying. It reminds us that the quest for better and more is good, but that better and more shouldn't trump contentment." --Fishful Thinking Newsletter, February 24, 2009

I love the point of this little newsletter--our society breeds us to be discontented. It is a wonderful reminder to sit back and think about what we have that is good and enough.

I was just doing this the other day. I found myself starting down the mental road of, "why is this like this and this should be different and I need to tell this person that this is unacceptable..." It was not a productive path. Then I sat back and started to think of all the things that are "right" in my life--my husband, my daughter, my job, my new baby on the way. These are the things I should be focusing on.

From a PR standpoint, this seemingly insignificant newsletter has upped my social opinion of Goldfish crackers--not because from this one note I think they are going to save the world. But it shows me that they are interested in more than just selling more fishy crackers. (And, yes, I know that they are interested in selling more fishy crackers.) But I think this little campaign fits in with a trend some other companies are following--the Dove Real Beauty campaign and all the entities jumping on the 'green' bandwagon.

Yes, these are all cleverly disguised marketing techniques, but at least they have a good side effect--possibly getting us all to give a little more thought to why we buy things instead of just following the rest of the lemmings over a cliff.

The Mommy Factor

For those of you who are not watching Open Season and Garfield 24/7, you probably heard about the whole Caylee case a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time ago.

Well, that's what happens when you become a mom and surrender your right to the outside world of CNN for Boog and Elliot.

I just (honestly, just today, like five minutes ago) heard about this horrendous case, which started out as a missing person case. For those of you stuck in cartoon world like me, I'll recap (quickly before Dora comes back on!)

Caylee Anthony, an adorable two-year-old from Florida, was reported missing last summer. Her mother claimed to be looking for her and desperate to find her. Now, most likely due to the ridiculous number of mothers pleading for their kids and then being found to be the culprit, I doubt I would have believed her from the outset. (Sorry mom's who are in that desperate situation--I don't ever want to be in your shoes, but I won't believe a word you say until you are cleared as a suspect.)

Obviously, after a search and lots of information coming up from family and friends, it was discovered the story was not adding up. The mom was eventually charged with murder and more recently, the girls remains were found.

I have two reasons for writing about this--One-as a PR writer, please don't assume your audience already knows the background info. Yes, I too get annoyed when reading a news story where the last half is all recap that EVERYONE should already know. (Hello! Where've you been? Mars? No, I've been in the land of Tigger & Pooh.) But I see now why this is so important.

The reverse pyramid is a wonderful format for getting info out quick--the newest and most relevant first (for those in the know) and the back story at the bottom for people like me. That way everyone else can just quit reading.

The second reason for writing about this story is that if you look at the website I linked to at the top, they have an ENORMOUS amount of informaiton on this story. There are links to phone conversations, video clips, court documents. One could easily spend all day reading and catching up on this story. The paper's format for quick, easy-access clips and info make it easy to get sucked in and bogged down in the site for far longer than one may have planned.

Why is this so ingenious? The longer you are on their site, the more ads you see. The more ads you see, the more they can charge their advertisers. Very smart plan.

His Best Performance to Date...

Joaquin Phoenix appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman last night (2/11/09) and in my opinion, it was his best performance to date.

The video clip on YouTube had thousands of views already at 9 a.m. this morning. There are plenty of comments as to whether he was high on something or just putting on an act as part of a project he is doing with Casey Afflek. Whatever the case, his visit to the Late Show is clearly upping his 'presence' with the public, which certainly won't hurt both his current movie and anything to come in the near future.

If you haven't seen the clip, Joaquin appears on the Late Show wearing a Blue's Brothers-inspired suit, dark glasses, and a very scruffy beard. His answers and conversation with Dave seem quite impaired and disconnected, although a couple comments he makes, i.e. What do you have these guys gassed up on? (referring to the audience) and I've seen the guests on your show both seem to be double-sided comments that could be in fact addressing himeslf.

Those comments lead me to believe this is indeed just an act, maybe a little stunt, either to draw attention, get the public noticing, or just as part of the alleged project he is working on with Afflek. But the thing that really makes me believe it's an act is that at the very end of the interview, the part where normally the sound is cutting off, he turns his back to the audience, takes off the glasses, shakes Dave's hand, and can be heard to say, "Nice job." His body stance in that moment appears to be fully controlled and alert. I would think if he really was just a hopped up celebrity, he would not have taken off the glasses.

No matter if it was an act or just another Hollywood burnout, everyone is talking about and even bad publicity is still publicity.

A pretty ingenious PR stunt and a pretty great act, if you ask me.

Holy cow--it's a herd of kids!

I'm dumbfounded. Each time I read something new about the octuplets born in California, it becomes more and more surreal.

The first report was miraculous. Eight babies, all healthy, and the eight a surprise to the doctors! A team of 43 doctors and nurses to deliver them--WOW! Amazing! Modern medicine is so great!

What? She used fertility treatments? Well, I guess that doesn't surprise me. How else would someone get a litter of kids in one shot. Well, she must have really wanted a baby.

WHAT? She has SIX kids already? Are you kidding me? (Actually the word that immediately came to mind was not kidding....) Why would anyone who has six kids need fertility treatments to have more? Why would they want more?

NO WAY! She is not married, used fertility treatments with ALL of her pregnancies, and lives with her parents. Whoever said truth is stranger than fiction was understating things.

What kind of doctor would even provide these treatments to her? How is she paying for it? I thought I read that each invitro treatment can cost from $10,000 to $15,000. I haven't seen how many of her previous six were multiples, but even two treatments is $20,000 to $30,000. That's a chunk of change for someone with a technical degree, no partner, and living with her parents.

Now I read she filed bankruptcy last year for $981,371. So perhaps these treatments are not even being paid for. And yet she manages to get another one.

I have dealt with and am still working to pay down what I consider a large chunk of debt. I agonize over every shopping trip and wonder if I should have spent that money or paid down more debt. This lady not only is not concerned about raising 14 kids on her own, she's not worried about paying for them, she's not worried about the fact that she hasn't been able to pay for the ones she has--she's not worried!

Maybe I'm just not getting the logic, but I really, really don't get it.