Book Review: The Dutch House

Photo: Bloomsbury publishing

What does HOME mean to you?
Is it a place? A group of people?
How does your home define who you are?
Who you want to be?

The Dutch House explores this sense of home and family through Danny and his older sister Maeve Conroy. Their bond as siblings is tested over and over again throughout their lives as they move physical homes and move back and forth between poverty and wealth.

Their relationships with their parents, their stepmom, their significant others, and their children shift their perspectives and their individual feelings about home – the home they grew up in, the homes they’ve made for themselves, and the homes they envision for their future.

At the core, they struggle with what to do when their childhood home, and a sense of entitlement and inheritance, is ripped from them. How do they recreate home for themselves? What kind of home are they entitled to? Will they ever be able to go back and to really feel at peace in their first home?

I thought this was an interesting story, highlighting the fine balance between people and place and what shapes who we really are inside. And while a place can influence our outlook and direction in life, it is the people and the relationships that will carry us through every moment that life throws at us.

Looking back, The Dutch House was not one of my favorite reads. I understood where Ann Patchett was trying to take me, but the language did not create that strong sense of place or connection to the Dutch House that I expected to feel. For me, the story was also a little difficult to follow, as it jumped around between time periods.

What really did make the book for me was Tom Hanks! His reading of the Audible book is incredible and adds a depth and emotion to the story that I really enjoyed.  

Book Review: Reading Lolita in Tehran

Memories live in smells, sounds, and sometimes books. Author Azar Nafisi recalls her time in Iran through the novels of Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry James, and Vladimir Nabokov. She read their books in secret with seven of her most dedicated female students.

Each book opened new feelings about abuse, oppression, and required conformity—ideas that shaped their everyday reality. They were physically and emotionally beaten down by the political regime and stifled by cultural expectations.

Each book also taught perseverance and resilience. As the girls began to share their personal stories, they found strength together. They found their voice. They found a happiness and freedom they had not known before.

For Western readers, revisiting these classic characters through the perspective of these girls brings a new weight to the stories and their lessons. Daisy’s flashing green light at the end of the dock gains a much greater significance when you consider the individual freedoms and happiness that green light, just out of reach, represents to them.

Find the right social media mix for your business

Photo: Cristian Dina/Pexels

This article originally appeared on the MarCom Group website.

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Achieving your communication goals requires a portfolio of different tools, including social media. Invest in the right mix to see returns and build a successful program.

Is your organization struggling to assess the value of social media? Is leadership wondering why they need to invest time and money in virtual communities filled with cat videos?

Approach the discussion with a business mindset—the organization needs to strategically allocate its communication activities across channels to minimize risk and achieve the needed return on investment.

Asset allocation is a common and critical concept in business. You know you need an appropriate mix of investments in order to reach your needed return. You also know you need to balance those investments among different asset classes based on your timeframe and risk tolerance. Or as your mom used to say, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”

Choosing the right mix of content distribution channels depends entirely on your goal, your content, and your audience. Balance your communication investments across classes and subclasses based on these parameters, much as you would balance business investments across asset classes and subclasses based on the parameters of time and risk tolerance.

After a brief description of the large content distribution classes—Paid, Earned, Shared, and Owned—we’ll talk specifically about the Shared—social media—and its subclasses or channels.

Content Distribution Classes -- The PESO Model

PESO stands for Paid, Earned, Shared, and Owned media. The PESO model is an integrated communication model that helps you to build a strategic and comprehensive communication plan. The model helps you focus on the four major media types and make strategic connections between your content, or your owned media, and the other three media types.

• Paid Media. This is material you create and pay to have distributed. It can include print advertisements or commercials. More likely, it will be your more routine social media advertising, influencer campaigns, sponsored content, or email marketing.

• Earned Media. Any material written about your business that you haven’t paid for is Earned Media. It’s what you traditionally think of as public relations or media relations. More recently, this can also include social media influencer recommendations and online reviews on sites such as Glass Door, Trip Advisor, Amazon, and Yelp.

• Shared Media, otherwise known as SOCIAL MEDIA. This is material meant to start a conversation or connect a community. It’s more conversational in tone and can be created by your business, a more traditional media outlet, your customers or employees.

• Owned Media. This is your website or your blog. This is all the content you’ve created. You own the full message and distribution of this material. You’ll use the other three media types to validate and amplify your owned media.

Social Media Subclasses -- Channel Basics

Shared media, specifically social media, is the newest of the media types and the one evolving most rapidly. We’ve outlined the basics of the top social media channels in an infographic to help you build the best investment mix for your business.

Your communication goals, content, and audience should drive your social media decisions. Each channel has a different purpose and a different audience. You need to choose the channels that align best with your goals, content, and audience. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution—or magical investment mix—that will work for every business.

On audience and social media, keep in mind two common pitfalls:

• Targeting Everyone. Just because you have access to the whole world through social media does NOT mean you should try to talk to everyone at once. You don’t need everyone to ‘like’ your posts, just your key audience—the smaller group of individuals who are your real clients, customers, or employees. Aim for quality engagements, not quantity. Still think “the general public” is an acceptable audience? Read Tom Law's article on "Why you Desperately Need a Defined Target Market."

• Avoiding Everyone. Just because there are risks in the unknown and of losing control of your message does NOT mean you should avoid social media all together. Your clients, customers, employees, and the media are already on social media talking about you. By not engaging in the conversation, you are ceding control of your message to someone else.

While you won’t be targeting everyone, it’s still helpful to understand how many people are on social media as a whole and one major way that social media is being used today.

• 45% of the world’s population is on social media, or 3.5 billion people. For North America, that number jumps to 70% or 230 million people on social media. (We Are Social, 2019)

• 90% of Millennials (born 1981-1996), 78% of Generation X (born 1965-1980), and 48% of Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964) are active social media users. (eMarketer, 2018)

• 54% of social browsers use social media to research products. (GlobalWebIndex, 2018) Also, 68% of Millennial job seekers visit a company’s social media properties to evaluate an employer’s brand, 56% of Generation Xers and 48% of baby boomers. (CareerArc, 2018) In other words, social media is a key research channel, a place where people are looking for service reviews and employer recommendations. For younger generations, social media rivals search engines as a research tool.

This infographic outlines the different purposes and audiences of the top social media channels—LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Click the image to view a larger version and download the infographic.

Depending on your audience, you might consider other popular social media channels, including Pinterest and Snapchat. Remember your goal is to meet your key audience where they already are online, to encourage conversation, and to build a community. Your community location and best shared media channels will be different depending on your business and your audience.

Once you’ve identified your best social media mix, remember to incorporate best practices for posting. Your most successful content, post length, and timing can be different on each channel, just as the timing and amounts might differ when you buy different types of stock. Choosing your social media and communication investment mix is just the beginning. Your communication portfolio needs to be well managed and monitored often in order to adjust to market trends and your audience’s demands.

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ABOUT MARCOM GROUP
MarCom Group is a woman-owned small business in the Washington, DC, metro area. Founded in 1996, MarCom Group, Inc. is a full-service advertising agency specializing in integrated marketing communications, brand development, website and digital development, and event management services—ranked in the top 25 area agencies by the Washington Business Journal and recognized by Inc. magazine as one of the nation’s “5,000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies.”

Weekend Getaway: Renewing Your Spirits in Purcellville

Whether you’re looking for a throwback to simpler times or something a little stronger than Virginia’s award-winning wines, Purcellville should be on your must see list.

I have 50 unread emails, a page long to-do list, a project deadline at noon, and my co-worker just spent precious time editing my email text to change 6:00 p.m. to 6pm. That’s what’s important at this moment?! At 10:00 a.m. on a Tuesday morning.

The only way to survive the week is to plan for the weekend. I check for ridiculously cheap flights to a Caribbean island. There never are any.

Plan B -- day trip.

I need to get out of town and escape this circus. I text a friend, and we throw out suggestions for anything within an hour’s drive. The easy decision is a winery, and there is no shortage of great wineries close to Alexandria. But where do you go when you’re looking for something a little different? Or maybe something a little stronger?

Purcellville, VA.

As we drive in to historic downtown Purcellville on Route 7, I feel like I’ve stepped back to a simpler time, onto the set of The Andy Griffith Show.

The local library is on the left, a gun store on the right, and there’s even a diner on Main Street for burgers and shakes. Various collectibles spill out from the antique store and onto the sidewalk--rusted milk jugs, iron tables, painted benches. My heart begins to slow and my mind relax. I take a deep breath. The air is crisp, clean ... and quiet. No sirens. No motorcades. No honking horns. Peace.

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Catoctin Creek Distillery
120 W. Main St.
Purcellville, VA 20132
540.751.8404
Hours: Mon - Closed
Tues-Thurs - 1-5pm
Fri - 1-7pm
Sat - 12-7pm
Sun - 1-6pm

Across the street from the burgers and shakes sits a renovated 1920s garage, red brick with large windows to let in the sunlight. This is Catoctin Creek Distilling Company, where Becky and Scott Harris have been making award-winning whisky, gin and brandy since 2009. Their flagship Roundstone Rye is Virginia’s most awarded whiskey!

We walk in to a bright and wide open tasting room. The exposed ceiling and metal accents give it an industrial warehouse feel. We find seats at a large rounded bar at the back and are greeted by the bartender.

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“How are you doing today? Thanks for coming in. Where are you coming from?”

After making time for some small talk, he begins to explain the tasting options. He lets us know we can do a straight spirits tasting or a mini cocktail tasting. We opted for the mini-cocktails, one each with the Mosby’s Spirit, the Roundstone Rye and the Watershed Gin. It was like watching a mad scientist work as you watched him pour and blend each drink. Then, he walked us through how each is made - the ingredients, the barrels, the notes and noses. While you’re there, you can also enjoy a 30-minute tour of the distillery to learn more about how Catoctin Creek makes their internationally award-winning spirits.

As we casually sip our cocktails and continue to talk with the staff, we also learn a bit more about Purcellville and get some suggestions for where to go next. For us, there was no question about what goes best with the warm caramel and maple flavors of a good whisky -- slow-cooked barbecue.

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Monk’s BBQ
251 N. 21st St.
Purcellville, VA 20132
540.751.9425
Hours: Mon - 5-10pm
Tues - 11:30am-10pm
Wed-Thurs - 11:30am-11pm
Fri-Sat - 11:30am-12am
Sun - 11:30am-9pm

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From the Catoctin Creek Distillery, we followed our noses down North 21st Street about two blocks to some of the most mouth-watering, fall-off-the-bone barbecue we’ve ever tasted. Monk’s BBQ is another small, family-owned business. Brian and Kirsten Jenkins started Monk’s as a food truck in 2011. You may have run into them at some of the area wineries on the weekends. They opened this permanent location in Purcellville in 2014.

As we walk up to Monk’s, it looks like a large, white and weather-worn barn, with piles of firewood stacked high outside and a lone guy manning the smoker. I think I want to bottle that barbecue smoker smell and bring it home as a candle. There’s nothing like the smell of good brisket to bring you back to a slow, fall saturday with your favorite college football team playing on the TV and a cool breeze blowing outside.

Monk’s is a no fuss, authentic barbecue joint. The brisket and pulled pork lived up to the incredible smells outside -- so tender and full of flavor. And don’t forget to order the collard greens. The vinegar and pork flavors are a perfect complement to the smoked meats.

We sit at Monk’s for a long while, eating, chatting and laughing. For a moment, we forget about the circus of work that awaits us only an hour away. We feel like we’re on Aunt Bee’s front porch without a worry in the world and everything important right in front of us -- good food and good friends.   

Reluctantly, we make our way back to the city late in the afternoon. But, we keep a little of that Purcellville spirit, and spirits, with us to carry us through the next week. In a few days, we’ll plan our next Virginia weekend getaway, assuming of course that there’s not a huge sale on flights to the Caribbean.

So what? What's the big idea with International development?

International Development suffers from an identity crisis. It means so many different things to so many different people – differences in industry from healthcare to agriculture and differences in program and financial approaches from philanthropy to market-based investments. It’s no wonder communicating the value and success of international development is difficult and confusing.

How do you balance devastation and hope? How do you show dire need without exploiting the victims or without making the problem seem insurmountable? How do you show growth and success and also convey that there is an Everest-size mountain of work still to be done?

Discussions on how best to tell the development story have happened for decades. Nicholas Kristof and his wife Sheryl WuDunn took these discussions to a new level about five years ago with their book A Path Appears: Transforming Lives, Creating Opportunity. USAID has made storytelling a top priority for at least the last three years. (I helped train USAID Communication Specialists on this very topic over the last year.) The UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) is doing the same.

During their 2019 annual conference, the Society for International Development added their voice to the mix and spent a majority of the event focused on communication, including sessions on Communicating to Drive Action and Writing True Stories that Matter.

There are two questions that came up consistently during the conference. These are two questions that every development story should address if you want it to inspire your audience and motivate them to take action for your cause.

• So what?

  This question is personal. The answer will change with each audience. You need to identify how your program, how your cause relates to an individual audience member. You need to establish a connection, some context, and relevance. You need to give a face to your cause and explain how that individual is just like your audience member. Not everyone will understand poverty or hunger, but everyone can understand being a parent or caregiver and wanting to protect a child. The answer to So What is also the answer to What Does This Mean for ME?

• What’s the big idea?

  This question is about dreams. The answer is your big picture, your mission—growing democracy, eliminating cancer, saving lives. Inspire your audience and show them they can be part of something grand. Grand AND achievable. The audience needs to believe the dream can be a reality. They need to know that investing their time and money isn’t futile. If the dream is unachievable, the problem insurmountable, the audience won’t join you on the journey.

Severe drought and a large-scale food crisis plagued east africa in late 2011-Early 2012, the worst in 60 years according to the un. women and children walked all day to collect water for their families, if there was water to be collected. after the initial emergency relief, the organization i worked for turned its focus to sustainable solutions—supporting local communities to build large water storage reservoirs. easy access to water allows a community to grow crops and care for livestock during the dry season. water allows a community to survive the dry season.
(Photos: Melissa Price. Somaliland, ethiopia. feb. 2012.)

Ambassador Rick Barton had one of my favorite quotes of the day. I’m paraphrasing, but the sentiment was, “The U.S. has the opportunity to bring peace to the world. This is why we do international development.” This is one of the biggest ideas—that everything we do, everything we work on together, in international development has the potential to bring world peace. Wow! I’ve never thought of it that succinctly, or on that scale.

That excites me, and I’m sure a number of other development professionals. So, how do we throw open the doors to our sometimes insular community and bring in new energy, new ideas, new people to this amazing work. Let’s answer their questions. Let’s answer the “So what?” and “What’s the big idea?”

How do you do this? How do you tell the development story? What are your best storytelling tips? Leave a comment here, or tag me in a comment on LinkedIn or Twitter.