There are history buffs, and then there are re-enactors. Obsessive about getting every historical detail just right, these dedicated men and women volunteer their time and money to re-enact important events in our nation’s history. Whether it’s a Revolutionary War skirmish or a War of 1812 battle, the re-enactors in the November/December issue of American Spirit, which we publish for the Daughters of the American Revolution, serve as examples of how rewarding this hobby can be.
The DAR Magazine National Chairman, Pamela Marshall, and her family have been dedicated Civil War re-enactors for 15 years. “Our oldest sons took this hobby to a new level and became U.S. Army Artillery Officers,” she says. "One served in Afghanistan and the other in Iraq."
Ms. Marshall’s sons are two of the brave military service members American Spirit salutes this Veterans Day for sacrificing so much for our freedom and the cause of liberty around the world.
As a group, we're big movie buffs here at Hammock. We often end our Monday morning staff meeting with our latest reviews of which movies we saw over the weekend. Our own Jamie Roberts in the last year has even seen AFI's list top 100 films. Most of don't have quite that depth of background in film history under our belts, but we still like to share our picks for Oscar. When I asked my co-workers who they'll be rooting for on Sunday night, this is what they shared:
At Hammock, our work supports marketers who use print and digital media to tap into the passions of their customers, members, employees and others. Our clients know that shared passions create communities -- online and off.
So this year, we're using an old tradition, the creation of our annual Hammock T-Shirt, to celebrate the passions we and our friends share.
We have several traditions here at Hammock and one of our favorites is our annual company T-shirt. For the past 17 years, we've shared an annual edition T-shirt with the friends we work with throughout the year. You can see a gallery of our past T-shirts here.
Each year we experiment with something new. Last year we encouraged all recipients to upload a photo of themselves wearing their T-shirt and from those, created a world map of all of the photos.
It's hard to believe that Hammock Inc. is 17 years old this month. However, when you publish recurring magazines, it's easy to prove. We've created a Flickr set (or at the end of this post) that includes a magazine cover from each of those years, starting with one from our first year in 1991.
We are a productive group here in Hammock Inc. We're creative and darn smart, and we rarely get distracted. But as we sat in a meeting last week talking about editorial ideas for an upcoming publication, discussion turned to a couple of ice cream festivals in the area. And we started reminiscing about our favorite summertime foods…
Like many offices today, Hammock's home base is largely cubed up. Oh, we've got really cool cubes, all right, but you're still sitting just feet from the next person. Even the few offices we have put us all within little more than arm's reach of each other. Close quarters are great for collaboration -- many times I can ask a question in my normal speaking voice and get three or four answers immediately.
But sometimes you need to tune out that background chatter and get down to business. A number of Hammock people use music to help them focus. A few of us -- me, Barbara L., Patrick R. -- don't work well to music. I can't drive without it, mind you.
For others, music is the key to productivity. "As a bookkeeper, I work with lots of numbers and repetitive data entry, so shutting out the office noise and listening to music puts me in the zone for quick and efficient work," says Lisa. "Office chatter sometimes causes interruptions and music gives me that tunnel vision for long projects."
[After the jump, learn more favorite tunes from around Hammock.]
Lena wrote recently about the distance between the publishing world we see in movies and TV and what goes on in our office at Hammock Inc. on a daily basis. Some days, we come across an amusing reminder of how unglamorous real life can be.
Today was one of those days. I've stopped saying, "Things are really busy right now," because now, things are always in high gear. We're not workaholics at Hammock, but sometimes, we find the need to -- ahem -- power through our lunch to get it all done. When I walked back in the office at lunchtime with my brown bag from Panera, the cafe down the street, I discovered I wasn't alone in my plans to eat and type.
Today, in almost half the states in the U.S., citizens get the chance to take matters into their own hands. You get to vote. At Hammock, we help our clients tell their stories more effectively. We think the candidates have done an effective job explaining why you should vote for them.
If you live in one of the Super Tuesday primary or caucus states, today you get the chance to tell your story. Don't pass up that chance. Vote.
You can find coverage of Super Tuesday on any news site today. Here are a few ways to hear the stories voters have to share:
On this day the U.S. has set aside to recall and celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for his vision and leadership of the civil rights movement, our weekly staff meeting included watching Dr. King's "I Have a Dream Speech" from August 28, 1963. No matter how many times I've seen this speech, it never fails to inspire me. It never fails to remind me how far we've come as a nation -- yet how long the journey is before us.
"When we let (freedom) ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
We don’t like to think of ourselves as terribly traditional around Hammock, but we have to admit to a few standbys. One of the constants is our Monday morning meeting. The very idea of a meeting can lull most people right to sleep, but we Hammockites actually look forward to this 30-minute ritual (yes, really). Like our other Monday tradition of Star bagels and cream cheese, the meeting is not a habit we want to break.
So, curious about what we do to kick off our week on the right foot? Most meetings entail (pick one):
A. Discussions of hot projects and status updates
B. Demonstrations of the latest technology and/or Rex’s toys
C. Celebrations and rants
D. Movie reviews and weekend sports’ results
E. All of the above
Answer: E. Although the meeting’s focus is to make sure that everyone is up-to-date on all publications and digital projects, we do take a few minutes to catch up on fun stuff, too. How else would we know which scary movies to avoid, which new restaurants to book and which coffee shops have the most Nashville celebrity sightings?
