Book, The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz: a great little book, a quick read full of wisdom that seems like it should just be common sense.  To find happiness, be impeccable with your word, don’t take anything personally, don’t make assumptions, and always do your best.

Book, Leaving Church by Barbara Brown Taylor: moving reflections on a life devoted to ministry and service, and the unexpected twists and turns in how that was manifested.  As someone who has vacillated widely in my relationship with organized religion over time, much of it rang true for me.

Books in progress or coming up soon: The River Why by David James Duncan (thanks Derric), The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (thanks Artie), The Chaos Scenario by Bob Garfield (thanks Bob).

Magazine, Men’s Health: I was somehow subscribed to this magazine through some purchase or survey I took, and when I track down who it was, I’ll let them know that they’ll never get another dollar or opinion from me (so far I’ve traced the path through three agencies, waiting on a call back from the third).  As you might guess, the magazine presents ridiculous ideals of what an actual healthy man is like, objectifies women into puzzles to be solved so that they’ll be more available for servicing men, and encourages rampant consumerism as the true path to personal happiness.  Umm, no thanks.

Live Performance, Second City in Chicago.  I’ve seen this Saturday Night Live feeder troupe do their thing in the past and it’s been really, really funny.  When I went again recently, the material was not funny, the actors were not in to it, and the show dragged on.  Lest you think it was just me, one of the longest jokes in the performance centered around a man describing for several minutes in graphic detail the brutal rape of a woman his character met at a bar; apparently it was supposed to be funny because it was edgy, but it was actually just wrong.

Live Performance, Cats: What the hell was Andrew Lloyd-Webber smoking when he created that?  And oh, there was some good singing and dancing and stuff.

Television, Glee: I shook my head in disbelief when my co-workers described the premise to me, but I ended up watching it anyway.  It’s part high school drama a la “Friday Night Lights,” part Auto-Tuned musical production, part ridiculously contrived sitcom.  I’m worried that, like the dreadful mess that was Prison Break, the show’s creators never really expected it to take off, and therefore have no idea where they’re taking the story or character development, and so they inject artificial plot twists to delay the season finale so they have the off-season to make something better up.  I can’t say I recommend it on the whole, but the interesting renditions and mash-ups of the musical numbers are pretty impressive nonetheless.

Television, V: I love a good “the aliens have come to destroy us” sci-fi drama, and it’s harder to resist when the story is couched in the hopes, fears, technologies and personalities of the present day.  V (for Visitors) has done a reasonable job of creating just that, but it seems like they’ve unleashed their entire bag of tricks in the first few episodes, so (like Glee) it’s hard to imagine a sustaining storyline and character development.  The hardcore fans of the original show must be really ticked off, and having been a fan of her work in Lost, it’s too bad to see Elizabeth Mitchell compelled to say such campy lines.  I will give maybe one or two more episodes of my time, and then I will go back to watching old Star Trek: TNG episodes, because it was never campy.

Movie, 51 Birch Street: a really neat documentary that anyone who’s ever thought about life, love, family, relationships or marriage would probably enjoy at some level.  It was a helpful reminder for me that even the marriages of my parents and grandparents and their peers, which may seem to me frozen as unquestionably pure during unquestionably better times, were probably actually more complicated than that.  It’s also a great story about never quite knowing what your moment in the spotlight will look like.

Anything you’d like to suggest?

I think my excitement about recording and broadcasting forms of creativity has continued since.  I was always working to produce video and audio recordings for fun in high school, I had a radio show and was a news reader and the training director on my college’s station, and I’ve since dived head first into the world of podcasting (though that’s paused right now).

This summer I’ve had the pleasure of taking on a new show at that same college radio station, WECI 91.5 FM here in Richmond, thanks to the initiative of friend and co-worker Nate.  It’s one of Richmond’s great but under-utilized and under-supported public media assets, and despite being a little rough around the edges sometimes, it’s still a neat place to work in radio.

I’m currently on from 10 PM-midnight on Wednesdays, and the show is called “Mix Tape” – it’s a pretty random collection of music meant to evoke the thought processes and amalgamating that goes into creating mix tapes or CDs.  (The reality is probably that very few people listen, which makes it much easier to wax poetic on the air, knowing that big rig drivers passing through in the night are my likely primary audience.)

You can listen online if you’re not local, and while I can’t promise anything, you’re welcome to make requests and give feedback by phone or via Twitter.  Thanks to everyone who’s tuned in thus far!

But I’m not here to indulge in gadget lust, I’m here to tell you how Sonos, the company, is making great use of Twitter for its public relations and customer service efforts (and, by extension, how Twitter is turning out to be pretty useful for that stuff.)

Thomas Meyer (who is hopefully a real person) is the voice of Sonos on Twitter, and here’s all the stuff he does right:

1. Having a presence at all. By being available on Twitter, the company can engage its customers and users directly and immediately about their experiences, requests, and concerns.
2. Having a real person as your Sonos personality. A lot of companies set up their Twitter accounts and post anonymously as “The Company.”  That can work, but it’s even better when the voice is that of a real human being.  Thomas uses “I” statements, and has some personality in what he posts (as much as is possible in 140 characters).
3. Looking for customers to engage. Thomas seems to regularly scan the public Twitter timeline to find mentions of Sonos and related keywords, responds to their tweets if appropriate, and then “follows” those users.  This happened to me when I posted about my system a few weeks ago – it hadn’t occured to me to look for Sonos on Twitter before that.  Again, this creates an instant, direct connection that is pretty hard to find with many product-oriented companies these days.
4. Looking for potential customers to engage. In addition to scanning for direct mentions of Sonos, Thomas also looks for folks who are out there talking about gadgets, audio, music, and related topics, and knows when to gently respond with “hey, have you thought about Sonos?”  It’s not pushy and I don’t think it qualifies as spam (since, in one sense, everything on Twitter is spam), it just creates some awareness.
5. Suggesting value-added ways to get more from the product. Thomas regularly posts about ways you can get more out of your Sonos system without spending money – free music that’s available for download, cool tips and tricks from other users, etc.  It’s clever, friendly, and useful all at the same time.
6. Responding effectively to questions and concerns. If someone mentions any sort of feature request, concern or question about Sonos on Twitter, Thomas is right there with either an answer, or with his e-mail address so that the conversation can continue directly outside of Twitter.

This is probably the best corporate use of Twitter that I’ve seen in my limited time participating in ITS limited existence.

If you’re thinking about using Twitter for corporate/institutional communications, a few related things to note:

1. You HAVE to make time for it. Engaging the Twitterverse seems like it must be a major component of Thomas’s job description, and I can’t imagine he could do what he does just “here and there” on top of other responsibilities.  If you want to use Twitter at this level, make sure you allocate the people time to do it right.
2. Is Twitter reaching the right target audience for you? It’s no coincidence that there’s overlap between people who have time and Internet connectivity to mess around on Twitter and people who buy ridiculously luxurious audio gadgets.  If you sell animal feed to rural farmers, you are probably not going to have the same level of engagement on Twitter.
3. Don’t get too close to your users. I think it’s possible to over-do the directness of the company-consumer relationship, such that the expectations will be set unreasonably high for the kind of response any one person can get from you via Twitter, possibly resulting in a backlash if something does go wrong.

I remain skeptical of Twitter, now more out of curious fascination in the context of many other cultural trends that worry me, rather than cynicism about this particular tool.  But within the scope of what it means to offer good customer service to a base of product users, I can appreciate that there’s a way to do it right with Twitter, and Sonos has that nailed.

This is just the first phase of what we hope to be a broader oral history project in the area.  You can read all about it on the new project website, WhatIsYourStory.org.  If you’re a podcast listener or producer, a fan of StoryCorps or oral history projects, want to be trained on interviewing and audio production, or just someone who wants to be involved in this effort, please contact us!  We’ll find a way to put your talents to work as we try to honor and appreciate those who live in our community, through listening.

All it takes is some kind of simple audio recording device, a good list of questions to get you started, and some time.  And it’s a part of the larger oral history project that is StoryCorps, so there are some neat opportunities to share what you capture with a wider audience, if you want.

If you’re in the Richmond area and want to send me some of what you record, I’ll consider putting it together into an episode of the Richmond News Review podcast.

His comments were interesting and insightful, but not necessarily ground-breaking, and when asked to comment beyond what I took to be his prepared remarks, he had some trouble even being insightful. But, I did really appreciate his perspectives on how deferential and petty many members of the media have become, and his advice to politicians and interested citizens to go against the grain more and shake things up a bit.

Though, when I asked my question of him, he wasn’t so into the shaking things up bit:

Chris: “You mentioned the lack of policy distinctions between the two major party candidates. How well or how poorly do you think you and your colleagues are covering the efforts of third party candidates, and what impact do you think that has on voters?”

Scott: “I’m glad you asked because we’re actually interviewing over the next few weeks – we’re going to be interviewing five of the independent presidential candidates. And forgive me but I’m drawing a blank on all of their names [crowd laughter], but I guarantee you I will know their names by the time I actually have to interview them. But, umm, obviously Ralph Nader and Bob Barr, but, um, it’s also the Constitution Party….I forget. Sorry. Um, we’ll be interviewing all of them, but I don’t think that’s going to be done by a lot of the other members of the news media.

There’s a finite hole. And I recognize that this has sort of a self-fulfilling effect. Um, I’m going to make up a number, but if you have an independent, a non-major party candidate for president, unless they do get some exposure, they’re likely to remain professionally non-major. And from the standpoint of news organizations, they’re saying to themselves ‘well, why are we spending twelve minutes interviewing this man or woman,’ – uh, Cynthia McKinney is another person we’re interviewing – ‘about whether or not they’re going to become president?’ – Because I guarantee you, they’re not! – ‘So, why are we taking airtime that we should be using to explore the positions about the other candidates that are much more pertinent to the campaign or, for that matter, the financial crisis, the war in Afghanistan?’

It’s a finite news hole, and those decisions are not easily made. When you have a third party candidate with the resources that someone like Ross Perot has, then you get a lot of coverage because they’re perceived to be a threat. Of course, when he didn’t get that many votes, he complained about the same thing, and he might have even been right.

But in our own small way, we’re trying to do that. Because, as I said in our editorial meeting, the non-major – and I’m sorry for that cumbersome construction – the people running for President not as Republicans or Democrats are nothing if not people who are serious about their ideas. And I think the American public deserve whatever chance our show has to give them that chance to put their ideas before our slice of the country. So, I’m glad to do that. But I guarantee you we will be criticized by people who consider it to be a misuse of our time.”

Well, okay, if you say so. In any case, it was good to see Mr. Simon in person and get a sense of him, I’m sure it will only enhance my experience of hearing him on the radio.

Last night I went to a talk in Indianapolis by Dave Isay, founder of the StoryCorps project. If you listen to NPR at all you’ve probably heard the audio segments they produce: interviews of everyday people, usually by someone they know, about their life experiences. The stories generally speak to some universal human truth, and as Mr. Isay said several times, tend to be much more authentic than the stories we’re told by television, movies, and other parts of our culture.

The talk was interesting, but not quite what I had expected – he played several segments that were featured in a book he was selling, and while they were powerful and really engaging, they probably weren’t the best use of time. I’d come to hear the context and technical details and “behind the scenes” stories of these stories, and so while Mr. Isay did provide some of that, it wasn’t in the proportions I’d anticipated.

It was an especially timely talk since Girls, Inc. here in Richmond was just awarded a major grant from the Wayne County Foundation to do some StoryCorps production about our community – more on that soon.

All in all, it was great to see these two significant players in the world of national public radio take the stage and talk about what they do and what matters to them. As someone who does my own work with audio production and who follows media issues closely, it was a real treat.

That’s probably why I can’t stop laughing at this:

For example:

• My Girl by The Temptations becomes: The One Who is My Significant Other, and Also Female
• I Believe I Can Fly by R. Kelly becomes: I Have a Sense That I Am Capable of Sub-Orbital Flight Without the Use of an Aircraft
• Oops, I Did It Again by Britney Spears becomes: I Am Struck That I Appear to Have Made the Same Error I Previously Made
• I Wish It Would Rain Down by Phil Collins becomes: It is My Earnest Hope That We Will Experience Significant Precipitation in the Near Future
• In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel becomes: I Perceive Something Noteworthy About Your Corneas

And so on. It’s especially fun if you sing them to the original tune.

Does anyone else play this game? Or am I, as Gnarls Barkley should have called it in his hit song, Perpetually Experiencing Difficulty With My Understanding of Reality?