I'm
taking the next few days off. "You've Cott Mail" will return
Monday, Nov. 29th. For all those observing
Thanksgiving tomorrow, have a good holiday.
--Thomas
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Commentary:
The importance of giving thanks via a 'donor
wall'
Posted by Colleen Dilenschneider on
her blog Know Your Own Bone, November 15, 2010
There are a few activities that I
consider "must-dos" whenever I visit a museum, but my boyfriend (a
huge trooper who has accompanied me to over 50 museums in the last
four years) only has one thing that he cares to do during a visit:
Check out the donor wall. While standing in front of
the donor wall at the first 45 or so museums with him, I thought
something like, "Yes, yes. The donor wall lends credibility to
the museum." But when the Bill Gates Giving Pledge was announced in August of this year,
it changed the way that I think about the donor wall.
A donor wall with recognizable names does lend credibility to a
museum, but research may suggest that displaying these names has a
psychological effect on visitors that could likely boost
fundraising capabilities. Here's why they work so well and
have the potential to contribute to a larger increase in societal
giving:
1) Human beings follow actions of
high-influence individuals. Many don't need to give a majority
of their wealth to get on the donor wall, but it doesn't hurt to
have a power-player sending social cues to make folks want
to.
2) Celebrity role
models are "influential teachers." A
study found that celebrities serve as more influential role-models
for youngsters than their friends and parents.
3) Acts of kindness
are contagious. Harvard and UC- San
Diego have just proven that people who benefit from kindness really do 'pay it
forward.'
4) We are evolving
into a "Survival of the Kindest" mindset. An article in Science Daily indicates that human
beings are evolving into a species that places a significant value
on kindness. We are drawn to others who demonstrate kindness and
giving, and we are similarly compelled to demonstrate kindness
ourselves.
Commentary: Tradition is fine for Thanksgiving, but not for
your business
Posted by Josh Linkner on the Fast
Company blog, November 22, 2010
If you live in the U.S., you'll
probably be celebrating Thanksgiving this Thursday. And if I asked
you what you were serving for dinner, you'd give me a puzzled look
and think to yourself, "who is this idiot?" Like a
couple hundred million others, you'll be enjoying turkey and all
the traditional trimmings. While traditions may be
nice in a family setting, they can be disastrous in the business
world. The whole idea of a tradition causes us to
turn our brains off. Just blindly follow the past so
you don't have to do the hard work of critical thinking in the
present. Great leaders are advocates for change.
While they respect the past, they win by adapting to
the present and architecting for the future. They
bring curiosity and open-mindedness and love to challenge the
status quo. While you may not be serving Pan-Asian
Fusion this Thanksgiving, think about the traditions in your
organization and take a hard look at what should stay and what
needs a fresh start. So whether you're passing the
gravy or the sushi, let's all give thanks for the ability we have
as humans to create unique ideas and imagine new approaches.
Now's a perfect time to focus on creating your own
new, fresh, and game-changing traditions.
Commentary: Thanksgiving today is a vision created by artists,
not historical fact
By Scot C. Hart, The Huffington
Post, November 22, 2010
The origins of Thanksgiving predate
the Pilgrims by at least 2,000 years [as] Celtic priests would mark
the end of their calendar with prayers to their sun god for
protection during the winter. But most Americans hark
back only to the Pilgrims of Plymouth Rock holding their
Thanksgiving in 1621. The vision of that day has been
rooted deeply in our psyche not by historians, but by
artists. If you stop and think about it, you probably
see Thanksgiving in a very visual manner. The holiday has been
engrained into our memories by artistic renderings of the
day."The First Thanksgiving" (1915) by Jean Louis Gerome Ferris
is widely considered the most revered painting of the holiday.
But historians have later said the black outfits the
Pilgrims are shown wearing are wrong, and the Wampanoag did not
wear feathered war bonnets, nor would they have been sitting on the
ground. Even more symbolically linked to the holiday
is Norman Rockwell, an optimist at heart who painted the world not
the way it was, but as he wanted it to be. His
"Freedom from Want" (1943) was one of four in a series
inspired by a speech by Franklin Roosevelt. What we
find interesting about this painting is that Rockwell composed it
in a way to make the viewer feel as if they were included in this
moment, especially by the man at the bottom right looking up,
making eye contact with whomever might be standing in this room
with this vantage point. And if "we" were there, then
the image must be reality-based. Just like the Indians roasting
turkey with their BFF, the Pilgrims.
Commentary:
Shakespeare
and...Thanksgiving?
Posted by Natalie A. on the
American Shakespeare Center's Interns Blog, November 23,
2010
While Shakespeare and his
contemporaries might have missed out on the traditional American
Thanksgiving -- which was only established on its current date in
1941 - and the joys of fifteen pound turkeys, French's green bean
casserole, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and Black Friday,
they were certainly familiar with the concept of coming together
with those closest to them as the autumn drew to a close, enjoying
the fruits of the harvest and celebrating with good food and good
cheer. And Shakespeare, as he usually does, has some
good advice to offer upon the occasion: "O Lord that lends me life
/ Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness." (2 Henry VI,
1.1.19-20.)
Videos: Turkey Lurkey Time
Posted by Frank Rizzo on his
Hartford Courant blog, November 21, 2010
For the holiday, here's "Turkey Lurkey Time" from the original production of
1968's Promises, Promises -- and then the great Seth
Rudetsky de-constructs it brilliantly. The amazing dancers
are Donna McKechnie, Margo Sappington and Baayork Lee.