Planning for Crisis--minor or major

After the horrid shooting that took place at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA, many schools launched into crisis planning to figure out what to do if similar events happened on their campuses.

While many felt it was overreacting to a painful and scary event, it has proved to be very useful in lots of other minor crises since then.

At our school, committees were formed to draft policy for what to do if such a crisis as a shooter happened. Some felt like it was overkill--this would never happen here, right? But the policies were written and filed. Faculty and staff attended training sessions where videos were shown on how to act if there was an active shooter.

The university system implemented a new auto-response emergency notification system called Noti-Find. This computer generated messaging system simultaneously sends out messages to email, phone, and cell phones. At the time it was implemented, it was likely with the idea of such a crisis as Virginia Tech.

Since then, however, it has been used several times over this ridiculously long and frigid winter to notify employees and students of campus closings. This use in itself has been a huge plus for me.

In the past, I have made the treacherous drive into work in inclement conditions because if I did not, I would be required to take annual leave. On at least one occasion, I arrived only to find out the campus closed and I could go home. That drive home was not any nicer than the drive in.

So this winter when notifind called me to let me know the campus was closing, I was so grateful not to have made that drive in as I had done in the past. Thank you Noti-Find!!

After 9/11, another type of planning went into effect that I have never had to use--how to handle suspicious mail, telephone bomb threats, or abandoned luggage or suspicious cases in public areas. However, I have to say, every time I rip open an envelope and the paper dust floats around, I can't help but think of anthrax spores.

While we have not had the type of crisis that has been planned for, at least the measures taken have proved useful in other more practical and mundane areas. Hopefully, we will never need them for what they were actually designed for.

Joaquin has Competition...

Apparently, Joaquin Phoenix now has competition for being the nuttiest interviewee on the block.

Billy Bob Thornton recently gave a very strange interview on the CBC radio show Q.

Not only did he give bizarre, unrelated, one-word answers, he was downright hostile to the poor guy interviewing him.

The interview was actually with his whole band, The Boxmasters, about their tour with Willie Nelson, their prolific musical output of late, and their new album.

One would assume those would all be fair game topics for discussion when visiting with a radio host about one's band, yes?

No.

Billy Bob responded as though taking great offense to many seemingly benign questions about the band, their start, and his background in film.

Example:
Host: You guys formed only in the past couple of years, right?
BBT: I don't know what you are talking about.

Host: What do you learn from Willie Nelson, Billy Bob?
BBT: I've never met him

Host: (attempting to redirect the interview away from monster magazines and back to music) Given that you seem to be quite passionate about music, I was wondering about your....
BBT: (in an insolent tone) Would you say that to Tom Petty?

Throughout the interview, the rest of the band members respond normally with expected answers about the band, their ambitions, and musical interests. But crazy old Billy Bob seems either ticked he is not the total center of attention (even though most of the questions are directed at him) or else just so tired of the standard radio interview that he decides to make it more interesting by giving off-the-wall answers.

Another possibility that crossed my mind is that he is somehow in on whatever kind of 'mockumentary' Casey Affleck and Joaquin Phoenix are supposedly working on. But since no one is talking on that end about what is real and what is staged, we won't know until the thing comes out.

All of this adds up to a whole lot of PR--good or bad. Billy Bob's latest stunt provides tons of web scuttle about his new album even though most people think he behaved as a total whack-job. And any other speculation about possible alterior motives adds to the fuel and buzz about the other projects going on.

Again, PR is PR. And since the general consensus about Billy Bob is that he's sort of half-baked anyway, I doubt this will hurt any interestin his band--even if that was what he was hoping for.

Fool me once, shame on......Don't get fooled again!

It's April Fools week, so I figured that is excuse enough to write about light fluffy stuff--like the snow we got April Fools day.

I think Mother Nature's sense of humor is way out of whack on this one. It's one thing to have snow April 1 when it's been warm and melting and lovely for a week or two prior. That's a real April Fools joke. Ha! Look! It snowed and it was so nice! And then it melts.

But this is ridiculous. We haven't even had a taste of spring yet. It's winter in perpetuity--like Dante's lowest circle of hell, only cold.

If I have calculated correctly, I'm pretty sure we got our first staying snow in November. That's five solid months of winter. And when you factor in the months of subzero-never-getting-above-zero-even-for-a-second temperatures, the literally five to six FEET of snow in some areas, and the horrid storms and road conditions, I think that multiplies out to........three years.

I read that April Fools Day started when the calendar changed from starting April 1 to January 1 and those who stuck to the old date had tricks played on them. However, other historians say it's been referenced much further back than that.

I prefer to believe it had much more to do with people going nuts from cabin fever after a stupidly long winter. If they didn't create their own fun, they'd have to shoot themselves to avoid killing someone else. Short sheeting a couple beds sounds like a much healthier alternative to homicide.

So I'm pretty bitter about this April Fools joke. However, today, April 2, it is sunny and warm, and I think I smelled spring for the first time today. If you don't know what that smell is, it's the scent of thawing soil. It's divine.

To narrowly tie this post into something media related, I will link to the favorite office pranks that MSN listed yesterday. Maybe it will give some people some ideas for next year.

Let's just hope Mother Nature has had her jollies and decides to lighten up next go around.

What if she just gets meaner??