Studio Hours in May

Quick note to let you know Roughstock will be closed May 15-22. I'll be in Boston at the HOW Design Conference, getting inspired and recharging my batteries. If you'll be attending, be sure to drop me an email.

Recently Published in HOW Design Magazine...

The current issue of HOW, one of the leading professional graphic design magazines, features Jess' article Deflate the Tire Kickers. Every profession has their version of the tire kicker: those not-so-serious prospects that eat into your profitability. This five-page article walks designers through the client intake process, offering practical advice on how to identify and effectively handle this segment without losing your cool.



The magazine is currently on the newsstands at most major bookstores, and can also be purchased online. [Update: HOW Magazine has now posted the full text on their site, so you can read the article online.]

(And am I the only one who thinks the illustration looks like David Bowie? Which is, of course, totally rad.)

April's Roundup Now Online

Yep, it's that time (well, past that time). Discover the joys of juicy news tidbits offered up in the March/April edition of the Roughstock Roundup: Check it out:

• Note! Studio Hours in May
• Recent Work: Evnine and Associates' New Logo
• Marketing Tips: How a Marketing Plan Builds Your Business
• Recent Blog! Posts That Might Ring Your Bell
• Who Won Made to Stick?
• Quick Shots

Read the Roundup!

New Work: Evnine and Associates Logo and Identity Collateral

I'm really excited to introduce the redesign of Evnine and Associates' new logo and identity collateral. The new streamlined look plays with the financial concept of "extra market returns," symbolized in the industry by the alpha symbol (the "a" in "eva," which is the company's nickname among its client base).



The big challenge here was creating a look distinguished enough to impress a rather staid financial industry while still communicating the personality and charm of this incredibly focused team of statistical wizards.



Both the letterhead and envelope are printed on 100% recycled paper, while the business card is printed on a heavier stock, 30% PCW recycled paper.

Tell Your Neighbors About the Spray!

I'm going to ask that you indulge my "politics" as I get loud for a bit - I'm just really not okay with getting sprayed with chemicals!

So, for those of you who live in California and want to spread the word, please help yourself to this poster. Download a PDF of either version by clicking on the image. Then take it your local copy shop and start passing them out to friends, neighbors and especially local businesses.





The petition continues to grow, with over 22,000 people refusing to be sprayed. Let's keep it growing!

San Francisco Green Business Resources

When I decided to get certified by the city of San Francisco as a Green Business, I wasn't sure what to expect. Would I have to invest in expensive changes, or sacrifice business productivity for the sake of environmental savings? It turns out that the process was fairly straightforward and the required changes and commitments were easy to implement. Not only that, but the program's coordinators were always ready with resources and ideas.

If you're a San Francisco business owner who's interested in making operational improvements to reduce your environmental impact, you're in luck. The city has some fantastic programs and resources to guide you through the process. The list that follows is segregated into appropriate categories to help you find what you need, fast.


Certification Programs

San Francisco Green Business Program
Aimed at helping companies further their commitment to the environment, this multi-agency program certifies businesses and provides help along the way.

Grants, Loans and Tax Credits

San Francisco Mini-Grants
SF Department of the Environment gives away free money for environmental business projects (quick turnaround grants from $1,000 to $10,000) on a first-come-first-served basis.

San Francisco City Grant Programs
While not environment-specific, San Francisco offers plenty of free money for businesses looking to expand operations, implement new programs, or simply grow.

San Francisco City Loan Programs
While not free money, loans can help get your business where it needs to go.

San Francisco Enterprise Zone Tax Credit
This program offers tax breaks to employers operating within designated Enterprise Zones, and/or hiring from Enterprise Zones.

Participatory Programs

SF Approved Green Purchasing Program
An extensive collection of resources for implementing your own sustainable purchasing policy (you might also want to read my article, "How to Find Green Vendors")

San Francisco Commuter Checks
Looking for a way to provide additional benefits to keep your employees happy while serving the environment? These tax-free public transportation vouchers help encourage employees to reduce car use.

Sunset Scavenger Business Recycling and Composting
It's free to recycle and compost your waste in SF! This site provides all the info you need to start reducing your landfill waste. Your compost even helps grow local wine! This program is especially great for restaurants that produce high levels of food waste.

Neighborhood Revitalization Programs
San Francisco operates revitalization programs in many neighborhoods, working with local businesses to provide opportunities, business support and funding.

Tips, Guidelines, and Additional Resources

SFPUC's Environmental Resource Guides for Businesses
A collection of prevention tips and guidelines for various industries.

Small Business, Green Business
The SF Small Business Commission's list of green business resources and a few additional programs.

The above links should give you plenty of food for thought. As you can see there are tons of resources at your disposal, and most are easy to act on. I hope you'll join me and the hundreds of other local businesses who've decided to incorporate sustainability into our bottom line! And in the interest of pooling our collective intelligence, I'd love to hear your own success stories, challenges, or other resources you've found helpful.

February's Roundup Now Available

Check it out—in this month's issue:

• Help Me Out and Win a Book!
• Recently Published: How to Find Green Vendors
• Quick Shots
  

Read the whole Roundup.

How to Find Green Vendors

My latest installment of The Sustainable Studio is now online, and this month I focus on how to implement a sustainable purchasing policy. Whatever industry you're in, the advice contained in this article will help you understand what sustainable purchasing is all about, ideas for implementing your own policy, and where to begin your sustainable vendor search.

"So just what makes a vendor sustainable? Is it as simple as finding a printer who stocks recycled paper? There are currently no strict definitions for what makes a business sustainable, unfortunately, so it is up to each of us to find a system that is both meaningful and practical. As a San Francisco-certified Green Business, I have a simple yet stringent purchasing policy in place for Roughstock Studios. I assign a single point for each of the following attributes that a potential vendor meets..." [Read the full article on Business of Design Online]

I'd love to hear your reaction to the idea of implementing such a policy, as well as any questions you might have about how to practically do so. Feel free to leave a comment either here, or on BoDo!

Answer a Few Questions and Win!

Update: Thanks to all who participated! The survey is now closed.

I'm redesigning roughstockstudios.com and I really want your help. Our visitor statistics keep going up and I want to make sure the site stays as relevant and useful as possible.

I've put together a brief survey (really—it's less than ten questions) to find out what you'd like to see here (or not see, for that matter).

To sweeten the deal a little, one lucky survey participant will be randomly pulled from a virtual hat to receive a free copy of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Don't.

Of course, if you don't want to be bothered, you can always leave your comments below. Thanks so much!

Free "Recycled Packaging" Rubber Stamp Art Redux

When I posted the free-to-use artwork for a "Recycled Packaging" rubber stamp last fall, I had no idea how popular it would be. Now, thanks to Anodyne Design, you can see what the finished product actually looks like:



I think it looks gorgeous! And of course, the green ink is the perfect touch. If you'd like to have your own rubber stamp like the one above made, you can download the artwork for free and follow the instructions.

Thanks to everyone who's left comments, and don't forget to spread the word!

Fun With Flyers

Bartending is hard work; aside from the babysitting and drink-mixing and entertaining, you also have to promote the hell out of your shift. So when my buddy asked for me for a quickie flyer for his upcoming anti-Valentine's Day shift, this is what I came up with:

Important News for Clients and Visitors Alike!!!

Roughstock's website and email service will be OFFLINE during the following hours:

Fri. 2/8, 10:00 p.m. PST - Sat. 2/9, 6:00 a.m. PST

This means the site will be inaccessible, and all email will be delayed during this time. If you're really curious, it's because our hosting company is moving our precious files to a new data center.

I'll be posting a reminder just before the change. Thanks for your patience!

Email RSS Fixed

For those of you interested in getting Blog! updates delivered straight into your email inbox, you can now do so for real. It looks like the "Subscribe via email" link was booting you back to the "Choose your reader" link, which obviously wasn't very helpful. My apologies—it's all fixed now!

Happy New Year!

And now, for the next chapter...

Latest edition of the Roundup now available

The latest issue of the Roundup is now available! Oh, exciting...

Feel free to subscribe to the Roundup (it's free), or fill out the lil' form to your left marked "The Roundup."

December hours

Roughstock will be closed 12/24 - 12/26 for the holidays.

We'll have limited availability 12/26 - 1/2 so please bear this in mind when building project timelines.

Thanks, and have a happy yada yada!

Hey, what's included in that design fee?

A recent thread in one of the professional design forums I frequent raised an interesting discussion about how designers justify their rates. I find it endlessly fascinating that design buyers—everyone from corporate ventures to mom and pop shops—have such a hard time understanding what it is they are actually paying for.

It's not uncommon to get questions like why so expensive; it's just a five-page website? and It can't possibly take that long to design a logo, can it? and even the old But there's no way to know if it's even going to work or not, so why should I have to pay premium prices?



The problem with this line of questioning is not that the client wants to know why they're paying what they're paying. We all have a right to know what we're spending our money on. The real problem lies in what it reveals: the client who asks these questions has no idea what they are actually purchasing.

When you buy a car, you expect to know the gas mileage, the type of engine, the horsepower, etc. Most of these details are disclosed outright by the manufacturer. In the design world, these details are the equivalent to deliverables, which include stuff like:

• Number of files
• Type of files
  
• Final printed pieces or live website
  

But when you buy a car, you're also paying for the manufacturer's name and reputation. With name and reputation come implied skills of craftsmanship and knowledge (advanced manufacturing processes, quality parts and materials, assembly line production, engineering, etc). Design buying is no different:

• Ability to concept and problem solve
• Research skills (general market research, competitive research, image research)
• Understanding of the structure, rules and implications of typography
  
• Color theory
• Grasp of composition, balance, contrast and layout and their impact on viewer behavior
  
• Production technique (software, assembly, handwork)
• Graphics editing (color and light/shadow manipulation, effects, cleanup, resampling, etc)
• File prep and prepress (bleeds, printer marks, color separations, file types, etc)
  

These skills vary from designer to designer, which is why there is so much range in pricing out there. Designers love this car metaphor; you can pay premium prices for a Porsche, or value prices for a Hyundai. Both are cars, but there can be no argument that one is sexier and handles better on the road. Maybe as a design buyer you don't want a Porsche, or simply don't have the budget for one. But you'd still shop around for a safe one, wouldn't you? One that won't break down every year? You'll always have to ask yourself what you're willing to sacrifice in order to save a few bucks.

When you buy a car, you get a warranty, right (we really haven't pushed this metaphor far enough yet)? Of course, you'd be an awfully lucky client if your designer gave you one of those. But there are some things you should get with your designer's fee to protect you:

• A written contract that spells out the project parameters, final deliverables, project timelines, client expectations (what you need to provide your designer so they can get the job done), and so forth. These details will protect you should the project seem to get off track. They'll ensure clear communication between client and designer from the get-go.
• Usage rights, or licensing rights, that guarantee you have permission to use the designer's work for its intended purpose. Your usage rights may vary from designer to designer and project to project. They might be exclusive, ensuring the designer can't resell the design to someone else, which is a good thing to have for logos. Always know what rights you're paying for.
  

There's something else that is expressly included in a designer's fees, something that's far too often overlooked by designer and client alike: return on investment. This is the Great Intangible that seems to make everybody cringe. How do we know this will work? There a couple of ways to measure ROI on design, and they depend largely on the type of project. Identity and branding projects can be tough to measure, for example, without conducting focus groups and surveys both before and after the project (and this is why the big boy agencies earn so much for their work—they actually do these things...I hope). But small scale metrics are available to even the independent shop:

• Direct mail can include ID references that can be tracked when taking inquiries. "Mention code ABC to get your discount," is a common one. Or send the recipient to a specific web address and track incoming visitor statistics.
• Sales numbers can be analyzed before and after the design piece is issued.
• Market comparisons and case studies can be used to decide if a particular project type has a successful track record. One of my clients, for example, was going to send out fund-raising invitations formatted in Microsoft Word and printed at Kinko's. They came to me for suggestions, and I convinced them to let me design a two-color piece with custom illustration that was professionally printed. The event ended up filled to capacity and they easily surpassed their $100,000 goal.

Finally, there are a few more things that may or may not be included in your designer's fee. These really depend on your designer's experience, history and focus, but they are extremely valuable skill sets:

• Marketing expertise including branding, positioning, outlets (media and distro) etc.
  
• Business expertise like project feasibility, budgeting, time and project management, legal issues, and so on.
  
• Vendor management (incredibly important to the final product), which includes print specifying, materials specifying, professional relationships, billing, etc.
  
• Writing skills: voice and tone consistency, concepting, grammar and usage, styling techniques, behavior change and persuasion techniques, etc.
  

As you can see, your designer (ideally) brings a lot to the table. You're not just buying a pretty picture—you're buying a set of skills and experience that directly impacts the success of the project itself (whether or not it's a smooth, trouble-free, enjoyable process), as well as the success of your business (whether or not the designed piece actually accomplishes anything).

So the next time you're surprised at a quote from your designer, consider the above list and decide if all of this makes the price tag worth it. Remember: it's your business and your money. You should know what you're paying for.


© 2007 Jessica Sand | For reprint permission, just ask. | And if you want to share this with your clients, by all means do, but be sure to include the following text: "© 2007 Jessica Sand, www.roughstockstudios.com"

Design Interlude: Anniversary CD

We went to visit The Captain's grandfolks for Thanksgiving this year. Despite taking 27 hours to get there (um, it was supposed to take six—thanks, United), it was a great time. They were celebrating their 60th anniversary this year. Holy crap! So we brought them this:



Despite my original attempts at sweet illustrations of birds in trees, The Captain insisted on something more "abstract" (he doesn't go in for sweet too much). So I went with something a little more '40s. I kept it simple, since the grandfolks don't even really know what CDs are (if I could have put it on vinyl, I would have).

If you're interested in what was popular in 1947, the playlist is as follows:

1. All of Me—Frankie Lane
2. Anniversary Song—Al Johnson
3. Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)—Tex Williams*
4. Linda—Ray Noble and His Orchestra
5. Ballerina—Vaughn Monroe
6. Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens—Louis Jordon and His Tympani Five
   
7. I've Got a Crush On You—Frank Sinatra
8. Near You—Francis Craig and His Orchestra
9. Heartaches—Ted Weems Orchestra
10. Chi-Baba Chi-Baba—Perry Como
11. Across the Way From Alamo—The Mills Brothers

*I used to play this song constantly when I was DJing the honky tonk; it's a great western swing number, made famous again as the opening tune to the film Thank You For Smoking.

The power of the personal.

Ever heard of Seth Godin? He's a prolific blogger, author and all-around marketing guru. He also probably gets hundreds of emails a day from folks commenting on his blog, asking him questions, seeking advice, and generally vying for his attention. At a time when influential personalities take public offense to publicity efforts, how do you get through to someone like that?

I'll tell you how I did it: I emailed him.

While reading his blog post encouraging marketers to reveal truths rather than hide them, I immediately thought of my own reaction to Pennsylvania's recent ban of "growth hormone-free" labels on dairy products. What a perfect illustration of what he's talking about, I thought. I also thought that if he were to mention the ban on his blog, it would get a lot more attention than my little diatribe ever could.

So I sent him an email about my post, and he promptly linked to it from his own. The result was a spike in visitors to Blog! numbering in the thousands (they're still flowing in), as well as rss subscriptions. Given what I assume to be a huge volume of email coming into Seth's inbox from everyone and their brother, I certainly didn't expect a linkback; at best, I hoped he would be as interested in the story as I was and mention it on his blog.

The key to success? I kept my email simple, honest, and relevant.

Simple.
My email was short and sweet: I briefly introduced myself and explained my reason for writing. I didn't reference my own blog post until the end of the email, and then I signed off. The entire email was less than 200 words.

Honest.
My intention was never to get Seth to link to me. My intention was to get eyeballs on the issue of the Pennsylvania ban on "rBST-free" labeling, and I told him as much. I included a link to my post so he could read my own take if he so chose. Happily for me, he did.

Relevant.
My email to Seth was right after he posted his "Conceal vs. Reveal" entry, and it referenced a story that was a direct illustration of his point. More importantly, because I'm a regular reader of his blog, I know that he values fairness and consumer respect—values that played a big part in this particular story. I come across things every day that would probably interest this guy, but I knew that this one in particular was exactly suited to what was just on his mind.

By sending a personal note rather than a generic "you might like this blog entry I wrote," I got what I wanted: Seth Godin made a whole lot of people aware of a dangerous legal precedent. The link to my own site was simply icing on the cake.

Thanks, Seth!

November Hours

Please note that Roughstock will be closed Wednesday Nov. 21 through Sunday, Nov. 25 while we eat pumpkin pie with family and thank our lucky stars for it all.

Have a great holiday yourself!

Roughstock Gets Switched

A recent surge in stats tipped me off to Freelance Switch's recent link to my Killing Off Five Design Myths (in which I...kill off five design myths). This gives me the opportunity to pass on two lessons:

1. Check out Freelance Switch if you happen to work for yourself. It's a consistently solid resource in a world of blah advice sites.
2. This is a great example of how tracking your stats can provide useful information. Simple, yes. But now I know I'm on Freelance Switch's radar, as well as the radar of their thousands (yes, I said thousands) of readers who are specifically interested in graphic design. If you blog, and you don't track your stats, you really ought to start (check out Six Essential Questions for the Business Blogger for more info).

Thanks, FS!

"The Sustainable Studio" on 100 Things

This is kind of old news because the site went live this summer, but The Sustainable Studio is featured on 100 Things Designers Can Do to Save the Earth. Landing at number 92 (which actually puts me toward the top of the list thanks to the magic of reverse chronology), my column is described as "one worth watching."

You know it!

Six Essential Questions for the Business Blogger

Six Essential Questions for the Business Blogger is now available in the Articles section!

It doesn’t matter whether you’ve been toying with the idea of starting a business blog, or if you’ve been feverishly blogging about your company’s widgets for years: you have plenty more to learn. A quick look through Google’s list of “business blogs” reveals some common problems: lack of activity, poor readership and appalling representations of the businesses they’re meant to promote. These issues do more than render a company blog ineffective; they can do real harm by giving potential customers the impression that the business simply can’t be bothered to get it right... [Read the full article]

Welcome to the New Blog!

I've finally managed to get Blog! categorized and styled so it's easier on the eyes, and fully categorized and navigable. It's still an interim design while I redo the entire Roughstock site, but at least it doesn't make me want to pull my hair out anymore!

Free Recycled Packaging Rubber Stamp Art (Updated)

If you're a retailer who ships your products in reused or recycled packaging, then this one's for you. A fellow member of the Co-op America Business Network recently asked about rubber stamp art that they could use to inform their customers about their packaging materials.

I whipped up this template you can use to get your own custom rubber stamp made for this purpose.

The following artwork should be acceptable for most stamp makers (the line widths in this image should meet minimum requirements of 2 mm), but if your stamp maker feels the line thickness is not big enough, contact me and I'll see what I can do. Also, note which file format your printer requires and select the appropriate one (if neither will work for you, again let me know and I'll see what I can do).

Instructions for 300 dpi jpeg:
1. Click on the image below (it'll open in a new window).
2. Right-click (PC) or control-click (Mac) on the larger image and choose "Save Image As."
3. Send image to your local rubber stamp maker via ftp or email.
4. Stamp away!


Instructions for 600 dpi tiff:
1. Click on the image below (it should start downloading to your default downloads folder immediately).
2. Send image to your local rubber stamp maker via ftp or email.
3. Stamp away!


If you do end up using this to create a stamp, please consider emailing me a photo of the finished stamp in action!

Fine Print
© 2007 Roughstock Studios. You may not alter or sell this artwork, nor anything made using this artwork, without express permission and compensation. Artwork may be distributed free of charge but must include this "Fine Print" section, and must include a link to www.roughstockstudios.com. I and Roughstock Studios cannot accept responsibility for any printing/production issues that may arise from the use of this artwork.

Some Colors Can't Be Copied

I'm on the road right now, resting in rural Vermont. Internet yes, cell phone service no. Strange dichotomy. Even stranger is the 3-legged dog I'm staying with. Photos to come later (I only brought my film camera). In the meantime, here are a couple of shots from last year's trip:

It's Official: Roughstock Earns Green Certification

Roughstock's been getting some press for our recent certification as a San Francisco Green Business! We've worked closely with various city agencies throughout the fairly exhaustive certification process, focusing on reducing energy and water consumption, minimizing Roughstock's waste stream, and adopting purchasing policies that reflect environmentally preferable standards.

This certification marks an important shift for both myself and Roughstock; I really want this studio to serve as an agent for change within both San Francisco and the larger business and design worlds. This includes working directly with environmentally and socially conscious companies, as well as operating as sustainably as we can.

It's reassuring to know that both our local business community and the wider design world recognizes the value in sustainable business practices. Read what they're saying about Roughstock:

• Graphic Design USA features Roughstock in their inaugural Green Design newsletter.
• The Sustainable Business Alliance celebrates Roughstock's certification.
• Download the full press release (PDF).

Visualizing Beer: The Beer Menu

When I was working on the training program for the Four Points by Sheraton Best Brews program, one of the biggest difficulties was designing a beer menu that was actually useful. Every Four Points bar carries about two dozen craft and regional beers, with many locations carrying upwards of three times that number. The challenge boiled down to this: how do you design a menu that:

• Delivers all the necessary information that a beer drinker might want (beer name, brewery, geographic origin, beer style, general flavor profile, and alcohol by volume)?
• Is easy to scan?
• Makes familiar/national brand beers easy to locate?
• Conforms to the clean, simple style of the Four Points style guide?

Step one, of course, is logically categorizing beers. Most bars that focus on craft beer tend to categorize beers by region, although some opt for style. Both approaches can alienate (yes, alienate) the casual beer drinker, to whom such categories may be virtually meaningless (just what the hell does a German beer taste like?).

Luckily, my client had spent years creating a system for categorizing wine by flavor profile. Could we apply this same approach to beer? we wondered. In theory we could, but WineQuest's flavor profiling relied on an intricate database of thousands and thousands of wines. Amassing a similar database of such detail-level information for beer would never be done soon enough.

The solution, I found, was to create five straightforward categories that any customer could easily understand:

• Draft Selections
  
• Crisp Refreshers
• Smooth Thirst-Quenchers
• Robust Brews
• Low Calorie and Non-alcoholic

I then recommended that each category list the beers according to the following format (with mildest flavors at the top and strongest at the bottom, much like WineQuest's progressive wine list format):

• Beer Name (Style, ABV%): Region
• Example: Sierra Nevada (Pale Ale, 5.6% ABV): California

Of course, there was plenty of back and forth between myself, WineQuest, and the in-house design team at Four Points. But ultimately, they used pretty much the format I created (though I think they may have played with the punctuation and text formatting of the individual beer names).

A menu like this accomplishes several things. First, it forces the drinker to focus on the beer's general flavor profile (I wrote in-depth training courses for the staff to familiarize them with the various flavors of their core beers and beer styles in general, so that the menus would be accurate). Placing the name of the beer first in each line is the logical placement, allowing brand-loyal drinkers to easily find their beloved (cringe) Bud. Providing secondary details like place of origin and beer style serves a twofold purpose: it lends a uniqueness to each beer, and it helps educate more casual beer drinkers. Finally, the simple presentation prevents those who just want a cold brew from feeling like they have some hoop to jump through, while beer geeks get all the info that helps to reinforce their geekiness. It's a beautiful, though delicate, balance.

The piéce de resistance of the menu has been stripped down in its final form, sadly. My original design called for an additional key of icons to indicate particularly hoppy, fruity and malty beers for those who are looking for more specific flavor guidance. I was also insistent that Four Points include an icon for high ABV beers, to ensure hotel guests, many of whom would likely be driving, would know what they were getting into. I think (though I'd have to double-check this at an actual Four Points bar), they ended up using icons only to indicate recommended beers and high ABV beers.

I have to admit, I'm really proud of the final menu. The look and feel is all Four Points, thanks to their in-house team, but the structure is all mine. It makes it really easy to select a beer from what can be an otherwise daunting list, regardless of how much beer knowledge you might have. So the next time you're traveling, don't forget about this incredible beer goldmine!

Articles Section Is Up!

As promised, I've created an Articles section in the Roughstock Library. Check out the latest addition: Killing Off Five Design Myths, which should help anyone looking to hire a graphic designer or already working with one.

Eventually, this section will include reference articles focusing on general business practices, marketing and branding, graphic design, copywriting and other useful topics. Feel free to suggest additional ideas.

August/September Roundup Now Online

The August issue of the Roundup has been combined with September's issue, for a comprehensive, full blown, content rich, action packed issue of the Roundup.

To get the Roundup delivered to your inbox completely free (we don't even ask for your soul) every month, just enter your email to the left (right there, see it? Where it says "The Newsletter"). Or click this link

[Continue]

[Shrink]

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Talking About Important Things

It's been just over two weeks since I was in that auto accident and one week since recovering from a gnarly bacterial infection (I'll spare you the details save to point out that when the doc prescribes the highest dose of antibiotics and coma-inducing barbiturates, you know you've got something vicious running around inside you). Normalcy is still nowhere near my peripheral vision, and yet I can't deny that I've got it easy.

I don't generally get too personal when writing online but I've decided to break with tradition because, well, I feel like it and I need to find a way to start writing online again, a transition. I've noticed/discovered/learned several things over the past weeks, most of which have appeared to me in question form, and mentioning them seems to be a good way to get back into writing about the things going on outside of my own life. The stuff circulating through my brain these days includes but is not limited to:

• When I think "how much worse it could have been," am I belittling the experience of those who are, say, paralyzed? Am I effectively saying, "I could have ended up like them, god forbid"? That seems both rude and ignorant to me. And yet I feel enormously lucky.
  
• Why has western medicine still not integrated elements of yoga and other eastern practices into the treatment process?
• Why do people think it's okay to do things other than drive when they're behind the wheel?
  
• How can I make Roughstock a profitable business that ultimately serves the interests of the whole, not the few?
  

I think mortality and death are beautiful phenomena, because they strip away the bullshit so that we can see "what really matters" (an ephemeral, constantly changing collection of things). My late uncle, conversely, is fondly remembered for having paid close attention to the details of life: colors, textures, pauses, shared words. I think the details allowed him to overlook the terminal illness he lived with for years. He knew he was going to die but not when; why worry about the big stuff when there are beautiful things to marvel at and words to string together in new ways?

All of which is to say, you can feel two different emotions, believe two opposing things, at the very same time. So I'm going to start writing online again, with no promise that my words will be relevant or on time. I'm just going to do a little exploring, throwing ideas out there. Let me know if anything resonates, or ticks you off.

Best,
Jess

August Hours

Please note that Roughstock will be closed from Monday, August 6 through Friday, August 10. Should you need to reach us immediately, please use the contact link to the left, and we will do our best to get back to you in a timely matter. Responses, however, may be delayed.

Roughstock Joins the Sustainable Business Alliance

Roughstock has joined the Sustainable Business Alliance, a Bay Area organization that works to promote sustainable business practices. Our membership is part of our larger commitment to remain directly involved in our local community and serve as a resource for local businesses and organizations who need to get their message heard.