Not just another pretty face….

I have spent some time following political causes recently, and found some interesting information. From Martha Washington to Laura Bush, America’s first ladies have been amazing advocates for the public good. Did you know that Martha Washington organized female volunteers to aid wounded troops, benefiting the Revolutionary War Veterans? Or that Dolly Madison helped rebuild the White House by saving many treasures when the British burned D.C.? Lucy Hayes was all about temperance and suffrage, and pushed for women’s voting rights, and Florence Harding was the first First Lady to actually vote. Lou Hoover helped the Girl Scouts with her publicity efforts, while Eleanor Roosevelt was a champion of civil rights. Mamie Eisenhower raised funds for research on heart disease, after Ike’s heart attack, Lady Bird Johnson is well known for her landscape beautification projects, and Rosalynn Carter worked to bring emotional disorders “out of the closet”. If you were first lady, what would you champion?

Stuck in the 50’s…

I recently returned from Clarksdale, Mississippi, the “home of the blues”. When I drove into the town (population 20,000 is what they claim, but I question it), I felt like I had entered a time warp. It would appear at first glance that everyone here is impoverished (I somehow feel bad writing the word “poor”), that this town just came to a grinding halt sometime in the 50’s and never progressed. There are no visible new businesses, no civic improvements, no progress at first glance. Or second. But upon deeper investigation, I started to feel like I was looking for the wrong thing. Everywhere I turned, people were happy. Chivalry is not dead, it’s alive and thriving in Clarksdale. People know each other, they like each other, they help each other. People move slowly, but it’s because they stop and talk to everyone else on the way to where they’re going. Everyone is important, and treated with respect. Children and the elderly are universally loved, and everyone seems to have a wonderful secret. And maybe they do!

All About the Marketing….

Two summers ago a group of women who were preparing for a charity walk for breast cancer met to decide their team name. One of the participants (a mother of five and stage four cancer patient) tossed out an idea: how about “Save 2nd base,” a playful allusion to the high school system where the “bases” signify the progression from kissing to sex. Remember that expression? She designed a T shirt, drawing two baseballs at breast level above the slogan. The shirts sold like wildfire, and are in boutiques all over the east coast with money donated to breast cancer charities. Who says that cancer can’t turn something devastating into a good thing?