Clay Bennett – Editorial Cartoonist and Pulitzer Prize Winner (Part 1 of 3)
By Admin | November 10, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Clay Bennett is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist on staff at the Chattanooga Times Free Press. He gives us his thoughts on cartooning.
Where are you from?
I grew up an army brat, so, I’ve lived in many places. I was born South Carolina, but lived in Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Virginia, and Alabama before moving off on my own.
As an adult and I use that term loosely, I’ve lived in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Florida, Massachusetts and now, Tennessee.
With a history like that, it’s hard to say that I’m from any of these places. But in a very real way, I guess I’m from them all.
Where did you go to college and what was your academic major?
I attended the University of North Alabama (Florence, AL), where I majored in rabble-rousing. Technically, though, my degrees were in Art and History.
What has been your career path from college to your current position?
After graduating from college in 1980, I worked as a staff artist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. There, I drew maps, charts, graphs and illustrations.
I spent just six months in Pittsburgh before joining the staff of the Fayetteville Times in North Carolina. Unlike the Post-Gazette job, this position included the opportunity to draw five editorial cartoons a week.
That experience helped me land the job as the staff editorial cartoonist for the St. Petersburg Times in Florida in 1981.
I worked at the St. Pete Times for eleven wonderful years. Unfortunately, I was there for thirteen.
In 1992, Robert Pittman, the editor who hired me retired, and was replaced with a much lesser man – sealing the fate of the Times editorial page and my position as its cartoonist.
My own demise, however painful, came quickly, being fired in 1994. The decline of the Times editorial page, though, was both painful and protracted.
The next three years of my career were spent in professional oblivion. Passed over for the few cartooning jobs that were available at the time, I weathered the storm the best I could.
I continued to draw editorial cartoons for the Tallahassee Democrat and for syndication through King Features with modest financial return. This forced me to increasingly turn to freelance artwork and teaching to pay the bills.
By December of 1997, I was beginning to think that my career as an editorial cartoonist was over. That’s when I got a call from The Christian Science Monitor.
Three years since my last staff job, and three months since drawing my last cartoon, I was hired as The Monitor’s new editorial cartoonist.
Given a second chance at my career, I worked harder than ever. In return, I had a great run over the following decade.
In my 10 years at The Monitor, I was a nominated finalist for the Pulitzer Prize six times, winning it in 2002.
I received the Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Journalism Award from the Scripps Howard Foundation, and the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award.
I won the Overseas Press Club Award twice, the John Fischetti Award twice, the National Headliner Award three times and was named ‘Editorial Cartoonist of the Year’ by Editor & Publisher magazine in 2001.
I left The Monitor in late 2007 to join the staff of the Chattanooga Times Free Press. A return to metro journalism, the promise of editorial and artistic freedom, and an opportunity to live in the south again, proved irresistible.
I currently draw five cartoons a week for the Times Free Press, and my work is syndicated internationally through the Washington Post Writers Group.
Why did you get fired by the Times in 1994?
The official reason for my termination was that “my work no longer met the standards of the St. Petersburg Times”.
That’s what I was told by the man who fired me, and that’s what was written on the form I signed during my exit interview. But there was much more to to the story than that.
My termination followed months of rancor between myself and the newly appointed editorial page editor, Phil Gailey. Although it was becoming increasingly apparent that he liked neither me, nor my politics, I was confident that my position at the newspaper was secure.
Big mistake! Months of friction with my new editor finally took its toll. On Monday, Oct 10, 1994, after 13 years of service to the Times, I was invited into Gailey’s office and fired.
Even though I was strongly encouraged to resign my post instead of suffering the shame of termination, I wanted the truth to be told. So I chose to have my departure reported as what it really was- a firing.
As devastating as it was to have my career at the newspaper end, it was what happened after that day that was most disturbing.
When pressed by various media outlets covering the story of my dismissal, Times Publisher Andrew Barnes consistently refused to give any reasons for the action, stating that doing so would “violate my privacy”.
So, instead of an honest answer, the newspaper resorted to a campaign to fuel any and all suspicions as to the cause of my termination. It was an intentional effort that lead many, including some my closest friends, to speculate that there must be something that they weren’t being told.
I never respected the editor who fired me, so his behavior meant nothing to me. But I always thought highly of Andy Barnes. So, his callous disregard for the truth, not mention my reputation, was a tragic disappointment to me.
Copyright 2008 DailyInterview.com
Topics: Artists, Pulitzer Winners and Finalists | No Comments »
Kent Strock – Turkey Farmer and Owner of Strock’s Farm Fresh Meats
By Admin | October 31, 2008 at 3:02 am
Kent Strock comes from a long-time farming family and is the owner of Strock’s Farm Fresh Meats in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. In addition to his thriving catering business, he raises turkeys. He gives us his thoughts on being a turkey farmer.
Where are you from?
I was raised on this farm in PA, actually born in Mechanicsburg, at Seidle Hospital in 1952 and have a brother and two sisters, all of whom are younger.
Where did you go to college and what was your academic major?
I was a little undecided upon graduation from MHS on a college major so I started one term late at PSU in the winter of 1971 as an Ag Education major.
What has been your career path from college to your current position?
Four years later I accepted a job as an Ag teacher at West Perry but did not return for a second year.
I was a 4-H Exchange Youth to Jamaica in 1975 for four months and then returned to Mechanicsburg and applied for Grad School at several Midwestern schools. I decided upon Iowa State and spent two years as an Animal Science major in Ames, Iowa.
I took a teaching position in Austin, Minnesota just prior to graduating and spent four years at Austin Community College as the Ag Coordinator, from 1978-1981.
It was while in Minnesota that I learned how to cook pigs and that became a very important part of our business after we moved back to PA in 1981.
I worked for my father on the home farm for 4 years and then took over the hog operation from him in 1985 and we continued to roast pigs on the weekend.
My wife bought a small market stand at Broad Street Market in Harrisburg in the 80s and we moved to the home farm in 1994 and opened a retail meat market selling our own fresh meats and making several deli items for sale, also. We continued the market until 2003 and decided to focus on the catering aspect.
I took over the turkey business in 1997, and shortly after that sold my sows and got out of the hog business.
The turkey business had been started as an FFA project by my uncle in the 1920s and was continued by my father when he separated from his business partnership with his brothers about 1950.
We have been raising and processing turkeys ever since and have maintained a small retail store on the farm selling at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
How many turkeys a year do you sell?
We will process about 1300 for Thanksgiving this year and 400 for Christmas.
Do you breed your turkeys to produce each year’s crop?
The turkeys that we raise are secured from two hatcheries, one in Canada and one in Michigan. I buy the polts (baby turkey) as a hatchling and grow them from 24 hours of age to market.
Why do you buy polts from two different hatcheries?
The reason we use two different hatcheries is to have a variety of sizes for our customers. The Canadian turkeys are a smaller breed and the Michigan birds mature at a larger size so that we can have turkeys from 13-30 pounds at the holidays.
Our demand is for generally for 13-23# turkeys a few larger ones. The nice thing about purchasing polts is that I can order quantities by sex. The hens are smaller and the toms give me the large birds a few of my customers desire.
Is there any difference in taste between a tom and hen turkey?
No real difference between the taste of a hen and tom. Remember they are the same age at slaughter.
What is the hardest part about raising turkeys?
The hardest part of raising turkeys is the first four weeks. They require a draft free and very warm environment – 95 degrees – during that time and need to be checked often.
What do turkeys eat?
We feed a corn and soybean based diet using our own corn. I am not an “organic” farmer as we will use corn that has been sprayed for weeds with herbicides. We do withdraw antibiotics from the feed the last two weeks to assure that our birds are free of antibiotics.
How do you actually prepare a turkey for market?
The turkeys are grown for about 16 weeks and then slaughtered here and packaged for sale. We kill using funnels to restrain the turkeys, then scald the birds and use an automatic picking machine to remove the feathers.
The scalding process places the birds in 135-140 degree water for one minute and fifteen seconds. This loosens the feathers so that the picker can remove the feathers quite easily.
We open every turkey by hand and clean them for packaging the next day. The dressed turkey is chilled overnight in ice water and sealed in a Cryovac plastic bag and boxed for ease of handling the following day.
We stack them in refrigerated trailer, by size, and offer a drive thru service for customers that have paid in advance.
Is it true that turkeys are stupid?
Domestic turkeys are quite stupid. They are easily scared and will pile on top of one another in a corner if sufficiently scared.
I usually lose one or two every year because of something very stupid that they do. While they share a resemblance to their wild relatives, I doubt that a domestic turkey would last in the woods.
What does your family eat for Thanksgiving dinner?
Our family dinner at Thanksgiving always includes turkey. We all enjoy a fresh turkey for the holidays.
Does your family eat other types of meat?
Pork is another favorite around here. My sons refer to bacon as “meat candy” and our charcoal roasted pork is unbeatable.
Do you make a living off of your turkey farming?
The catering business now provides the bulk of our income. The turkey business has greater longevity but provides only about 20% of our net income. We would be considered a small entity in the poultry industry.
Locally, I am sure we sell a substantial number of turkeys but we are just that, a very local business.
Are any of your kids interested in taking over the business?
At this time none of our children have shown an interest in the business. All are grown and have pursued other careers. They are all located close by and can be called upon at times to help in a pinch.
Do you consider McCain or Obama to be more farmer friendly?
In regard to the election, I am not thrilled with either candidate. I wish McCain was more conservative and Obama is much too liberal for my taste. Palin is more my style candidate.
From an agricultural perspective I see McCain as the better alternative. Quite frankly Obama scares me. I do not think he has been honest and his policies are dead wrong on many issues.
Editors Note: The interviewer has eaten many Strock Farm turkeys for Thanksgiving dinner.
Copyright 2008 DailyInterview.com
Topics: Farmers | No Comments »
Tom Matthews – Executive Director for Corporate Communications, Longaberger, Inc.
By Admin | October 23, 2008 at 11:59 pm
Tom Matthews is the Executive Director for Corporate Communications for the iconic basketmaker Longaberger. We recently visited him at his company headquarters in Newark, Ohio.
Where are Longaberger baskets made?
Our Home Office – the basket-shaped building – is in Newark, Ohio. Our manufacturing campus, which is home to basketmaking, Make A Basket, distribution and our Factory Store, is located in Frazeysburg, Ohio, about 15 minutes east of our Home Office.
Manufacturing is adjacent to our Homestead, featuring shops and events. More than 350,000 people visited our destinations last year to experience basketmaking, shop and make baskets with our basketmakers.
We also own Longaberger Golf Club, consistently selected among the top public courses in the U.S. by leading golf magazines.
Who leads your company?
We are a family-owned company led by Chair, CEO and President Tami Longaberger. She is recognized as a powerful voice for women and is a role model for many within in our sales field and company.
Beyond leading the company and setting our strategic direction, Tami is civic minded and has served on numerous advisory boards and committees.
How did Longaberger get its’ start?
We are celebrating our company’s 35th anniversary this year. The Longaberger family’s roots in basketmaking date back more than 100 years, when Tami’s grandfather, J.W., began making baskets in Dresden, Ohio from a shop at his home.
Years later, the late Dave Longaberger, J.W.’s son and Tami’s father, began selling some of J.W.’s handcrafted baskets at his grocery store in Dresden.
Dave was a big dreamer and entrepreneur. He started several businesses in Dresden and eventually landed on the idea of selling the baskets through home shows. He believed people would fall in love with the baskets if they knew the family story behind them.
Turns out he was right. He formed The Longaberger Company in 1973. Tami has led the company since 1999 and, in addition to continuing the tradition, espouses the vision that Longaberger is about empowering women and men to reach their dreams.
What products do you sell today?
We are America’s premier maker of handcrafted baskets and provide other home and lifestyle products, such as pottery, wrought iron and fabrics.
The basic business model for Longaberger has been the home distributor. Has the retail website caused resentment or problems with your sales associates?
We have created an online experience that benefits our Home Consultants. Every Home Consultant has her or his own website. They can sell product through their websites.
Consultants are using the web as another tool to reach customers. If you go through www.longaberger.com, you can be connected to Home Consultants through a search function.
What is the average income for your sales associates?
Your income as a Home Consultant is what you make it. It depends on what kind of time and energy you want to put into your business. Some choose to do it part-time; others have made it a full-time career.
A Longaberger business can fit your lifestyle and it can change your life. It’s all about what you choose to make it.
Do you require your sales associates to buy their merchandise?
Home Consultants have a variety of options to purchase business kits, beginning with the low-cost Easy Start Kit. They also can purchase samples. In addition, Consultants receive 25-percent discounts on all Longaberger products.
How much has the poor economy in the US in the last 12-18 months hurt sales?
These indeed are challenging times for us and all other U.S. manufacturers. And we have taken the necessary steps to strengthen our commitment to handcrafting baskets right here in Ohio.
Recently, we announced significant investments in our basketmaking operations that will make us more environmentally friendly and reduce raw materials.
And there is more good news. We have had a 10 percent increase so far this year in new Home Consultants joining us. More people turn to us because they are interested in earning extra money or because they want to start new careers.
Do you have sales associates outside of the United States?
We have approximately 45,000 Home Consultants throughout the country representing every single U.S. state.
What single product is your most popular?
Our baskets are our most popular products, followed by pottery.
Why would someone buy a Longaberger basket when someone could buy an equally functional basket for a tenth of the cost?
Longaberger baskets are American made and they reflect the highest quality. Our baskets are more than functional. They are handmade to be handed down.
Many of the people who own Longaberger baskets have stories behind them — perhaps a fond memory of who gave them the basket or the circumstances under which they received it.
There is something very special about our baskets. They are steeped in our heritage and our history. Basketmaking in the Longaberger family goes back more than 100 years, and that heritage is reflected in each and every one of our baskets.
Our basketmakers personally sign and date each basket, a reflection of the pride, quality and history.
Other than home sales associates, how many people does Longaberger employ?
We employ approximately 2,100, which includes manufacturing, our destinations and Home Office.
How long does it take to make a medium-sized market basket? What type of wood is used in your baskets?
Our basketmakers can typically make a Medium Market Basket in about 20 minutes. We use maple wood for our baskets.
Has the company received much notoriety from the corporate headquarters that is an exact replica of a market basket? What have the professional architects said about the building?
Our Home Office has drawn accolades not only across the country, but also from around the globe. The building is unique and came about because our founder Dave Longaberger was a big dreamer.
The building has been recognized in school textbooks, architectural publications and in numerous travel books, magazines and online sources. It’s appeared on TV shows, too. The Home Office has been featured in countries from the U.S. to Australia, China, United Kingdom, Germany and beyond.
People will travel hundreds and even thousands of miles to visit our Big Basket building and take photos of it.
What new products or product lines is Longaberger bringing to market or considering?
We consistently have created new designs, from new weave patterns to multiple colors. Our fall WishList – our catalog that is available from Home Consultants or online – features bright multi-color baskets in unique shapes. This is an example of the innovative touches we bring to our baskets.
Who is your biggest hand-made basket competitor?
We are unique in terms of our family heritage, our history, our craft and our business opportunity that we provide primarily to women.
While on one hand we are an American manufacturer handcrafting baskets, on the other we are a family-owned company that provides a unique opportunity for people to start and grow their own home businesses.
Many people, most of whom are women, are drawn to us because they love our baskets and products. They fall in love with our company and all it stands for. Those who become Home Consultants make new friends through Longaberger, sharing stories and good times and creating wonderful memories to last a lifetime.
Our CEO Tami Longaberger often talks about how we are empowering women to start their own businesses, forge new and lasting relationships and realize many of their dreams.
What do you have to do in order to become a sales associate? Is there a yearly minimum required sales amount required to maintain a Longaberger distributorship?
It’s simple and low-cost to become a Home Consultant. You can join for just $35 (current special rate – the regular price is $49) for the Easy Start Kit, which includes a Medium Market Basket and basic business materials. For more information on becoming a Home Consultant, we encourage people to visit www.longaberger.com.
Are your basketmakers paid an hourly rate or piecemeal?
Our basketmakers are paid by piece rate. They can make a good wage, and we provide health and other benefits, including on-site health clinics and free access to company fitness centers.
How long does it take to become a really good basketmaker?
The basic training to become a basketmaker takes 12 weeks. But it can take a year or longer to become proficient enough to make baskets that have challenging and intricate designs.
What was your 2007 annual sales number?
We are a privately held, family-owned company.
This interview was edited and condensed.
Copyright 2008 DailyInterview.com
Topics: Marketing Executives | No Comments »
Kay Redfield Jamison, PhD – MacArthur Fellow, Psychologist, and Author (Part 2 of 3)
By Admin | September 23, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Are you working on a book right now?
Yes.
And may I ask what it is?
It is a book called Nothing Was The Same. It is a follow-up to an earlier book I wrote called An Unquiet Mind.
So you are writing your second memoir?
Right.
You wrote An Unquiet Mind in 1995. Do you ever wish you hadn’t written it?
I have had my regrets. I think overall that it was the right thing to do.
Why did you decide to write your memoir?
Why? Because people don’t talk about it. You know, people in the professions have these illnesses, have psychiatric illnesses.
People in medicine, my colleagues, my students have depression and bipolar illness and they live in a climate of fear and concern about hospital privileges and licenses.
These are illnesses like any other illnesses and the trouble is people don’t talk about them that way and so I felt that you that i should.
Does it bother you when you are out speaking or in a social situation and people come up and tell you their stories or a story of one of their loved ones.
Well, I think it is a very common illness and I think people don’t have the kind of opportunity to talk about that and in an ideal world they should.
So, I always try and listen because I think it is very hard for people to have. It is a devastating illness to have. It is devastating for family members.
I think I have been very fortunate. I have been very fortunate to have wonderful family and colleagues and I respond very well to medication.
So, I feel like I’ve been lucky. So, if I can do something to help people I try and do it. I don’t always succeed but I try.
Are you practicing clinically as a therapist right now?
No, not right now. It was one of the things that I gave up. It was one of the major decisions I had to make before I wrote my book. You know, I see patients in consultation, but that’s it.
Do you miss it?
Of course, I miss it terribly. I had great patients. I loved my patients. I loved clinical work. I spent twenty years practicing. And, it’s a part of the way you think. It’s a part of the way you see the world. I miss it, sure.
Was An Unquiet Mind the most difficult book for you to write?
The suicide book was a very difficult book to write in the sense of the subject matter. It is very hard to get up every day to read and write about suicide.
Are you distressed about all these kids on the college campuses shooting the other kids.
Sure.
Why is that happening?
Suicide overwhelmingly is linked to psychiatric illness. The major causes of suicide are depression and bipolar illness. So, that’s why people tend to kill themselves.
Do you think it is more prevalent now?
No, I see that the suicide rate has gone down over the last twenty years.
Why is that?
Treatment.
Does acupuncture work for bipolar disease?
There is no evidence that it does. It doesn’t mean that it doesn’t. There is no evidence.
The treatments that have been demonstrated from a scientific point of view are lithium and a variety of anti-convulsive medications. Mood-stabilizing drugs.
And therapy?
Yeah. As a matter of fact I just gave a lecture this morning to public health students at Hopkins about that issue.
It doesn’t do you any good to have really great medications that work – there are quite a few medications that work – if people won’t take them.
And, one of the big advances in bipolar illness in the last maybe 15 years or so, is that there are now ten or fifteen studies showing the combination of psychotherapy and medication is more effective than medication alone. Psychotherapy alone for bipolar illness doesn’t work.
But the combination is good. People, particularly when they are young, don’t take their medication and psychotherapy is something where people can deal with the issue of not wanting to take a medication.
How do you find a good therapist? What is the key to a successful therapy? Trust?
Someone who is competent. I think in my own field, which is the study of bipolar illness, which is a very serious illness which tends to get worse over time if it is not aggressively and well-treated, you want a doctor who knows what he or she is doing.
You want a doctor knows about the natural course of the illness, the neurobiology, the medications, the psychotherapy. You want a doctor who knows alot. You don’t want somebody… I mean empathy is important, of course, but you shouldn’t have to make an either or decision.
You want a doctor who is informed and up on the literature, who is empathetic and who knows what to do. Not everybody needs psychotherapy by any stretch.
But, there is a tendency I think to downplay the importance of psychotherapy because bipolar is such a clearly genetic illness and the primary treatment is clearly medical.
But, I would argue and I think alot of people who treat the illness would argue that actually it is one of those places where psychotherapy has actually saved lives. It doesn’t just make the quality of life better. It saves lives.
When you were a clinical psychologist, did you specialize in bipolar? If somebody came to you for marriage counseling would you see them?
I was pretty specialized in mood disorders. I ran a mood disorders clinic.an affective disorders clinic, at UCLA for many years. So, the patients that we saw were patients with depression and life trauma.
Do you think that because you had that disease it made you a better clinician, a better therapist, a better healer?
Not necessarily. I don’t really buy that argument. Say, if I had Hodgkins’ disease, I wouldn’t choose my doctor on the basis of whether he or she had Hodgkins disease. I would choose on the basis of what they knew.
I think it certainly affected, I hope in a good way but probably not always by a stretch, my research, my teaching and my advocacy. Because, I think I am more impatient.
I focus alot on suicide. I focus somewhat more on the positive elements of the illness. I think I probably have a different focus and interest than somebody who doesn’t have the illness.
Topics: MacArthur Fellows (The "Genius Grants"), Psychologists, Writers | No Comments »
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