It’s not that I do not believe in global warming, I simply do not believe “going green” is going to amount to a hill of beans to alter it. Because many scientists agree that the earth has been through similar cycles and altogether different climate cycles many times before and without human input (ice age…anyone?). You do not hear any opposing opinions or different takes in the media, not because there aren’t any from very qualified people to do so, but because it doesn’t tow the politically correct line. Yes “Green” is essentially a political advertising campaign. Its been such a successful one that more and more companies are picking up on it and using it to their advantage. Al Gore made a fortune on his book “An Inconvenient Truth” all the while being one of the heaviest residential users of electricity in Nashville. After all it takes a lot of lights to illuminate the Gore mansion, even when Big Al is away making it snow somewhere by his presence.

We are told that everything, including cow flatulence causes global warming. If it’s a hot summer it must be global warming. If it’s a mild winter, you guessed it, global warming. Let’s all go GREEN, whatever that really means. I will be the first to say we need to wean off of oil as quickly as possible because it’s expensive, limited and it smells, but are we so delusional to think that if we simply change a few habits or feed our cows Gas X that we will halt global warming? It’s really about money in my opinion. President Obama is proposing many new lofty environmental control laws that in the end will cost the American tax payer money and not change anything. The only result will be that government gets bigger, and the economy continues to tank and if the earth is on a warming trend, it will continue to be. As influential as we humans are, and as damaging as we can be, ultimately the earth can still kick our butts.

Our program will culminate with the Tennessee Small Farmer Recognition Program Luncheon which begins at 12:00 p.m. and concludes at 1:00 p.m. With the theme, “Small Farmers: The Heart of Tennessee,” this year’s expo will include general tours of the TSU Agricultural Research and Education Center as well as a host of experts and panels designed to help small farmers reduce spending and improve the marketing of their products. Speakers will include past winners of the Tennessee Small Farmers of the Year Awards. Hank and Cindy Delvin will talk about marketing organic vegetables and having a successful Community Supported Agriculture (CSA); Gayle and Jim Tanner will speak about their successes with goats and marketing goat cheese and other products locally; and Trace and Ty Owen of Owen Farms in Cheatham County will share their experiences in operating an Agricultural Tourism enterprise.

United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency (FSA) will provide two farm loan specialists, James Welborn and Deborah Worthington, to answer questions about finances and funding. A panel which will include USDA National Resource Conservation (NRCS) State Resource Conservationist Jeff Sanders and USDA Rural Development Community Program Specialist Specializing in Energy Will Dodson, will explore ways small
farmers can make their agricultural operation and their homes more efficient. Dr. Ann Peischel, TSU Assistant Professor of Small Ruminants, will give new and fresh ideas on alternatives in livestock production such as
sheep, goats, lamas, alpacas, hogs and poultry, and Dr. Arvazena Clardy, TSU Assistant Professor of Horticulture, will discuss the in’s and out’s of herb production and ornamental grass production. Awards will be
presented at the recognition program in three categories based on two farm income brackets.

Two awards for Best Management Practices, Innovative Marketing, and Alternative Enterprises will be given along with a statewide Overall Small Farmer of the Year Award. The winners will be announced during the awards luncheon at 12:00 noon.

The event is free and open to the public however, registration by July 15th is appreciated. THE  DEADLINE DATE FOR REGISTRATION IS JULY 15th. To register, please contact Linda Buchanan at (615) 963-1827 or e-mail .

For more detailed information about the TSU Agricultural Research and Education Center or the TSU Small Farms Expo, contact Chris Robbins at (615) 566-6460 or email
.

Directions

To reach the TSU Agricultural Research and Education Center from downtown Nashville

• Take I-40 West toward Memphis.
• Then take the US-70/Charlotte Pike, Exit 201.
• Turn right onto Charlotte Pike ( Turn left if coming from Memphis or I-40 East).
• Turn right at the light just past the Wal-Mart Shopping Center onto River Road.
• Then go approximately 11 miles, and look for the sign, “Tennessee State University Demonstration Farm.”

The physical of the center address is 3101 River Road, Ashland City, Tenn. 37015. For further assistance with directions call (615) 566-6460.

Elle-girl and Elmo

Earlier this week while at Kroger I noticed some baby lotion in the clearance bend from Earth’s Best Organics. Since this was already a brand I use with Elle-girl’s foods, I thought I would try it. I’ve loved it! It’s true lavender, and smells yummy, and it goes on so smooth, unlike other thick lotions. Elle-girl, who has always hated getting rubbed down with lotion, also seemed to love it. She lays very still while I apply the lotion before bed, then she carries the bottle around the house during the day. I started to notice as she carried it around she would sing the Elmo song that she learns on Sesame St.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, we love Sesame Street and Elle-girl loves Elmo! National Public Television offers many great programs for Adults as well as children 24hrs a day. NPR boasts of being viewer sponsored and therefore they do not buy into selling lots of products through commercials on their station. As a parent, I appreciate that.

Elle-girl only watches two programs a day, one being Yo Gabba Gabba, which we record with DVR and watch whenever we want, and the other, being Sesame Street in the mornings.

Around 8:56 a.m. I turn on the TV and turn it on Channel 8. Though there are no “official” commercials they always play three messages from their ’sponsors’, New Balance shoes, McDonald’s, and Earth’s Best Organics. I noticed yesterday morning as the Earth’s Best Organics commercial came on Elle-girl started singing the Elmo song. A thought occurred to me, and I ran to her room picked up the lotion bottle and a small label on the front of the bottle is the same label they use in their commercials.

Elle-girl has been bought.

She trusts this brand because it comes on right before Sesame Street and Elmo come on. Just imagine how much more she would be exposed to should we let her watch more TV than we do. How much more would she want or recognize at the grocery store?

Very smart, Earth’s Best Organics, very smart.

Barry Kitterman: Editor, playwright, professor of literature and author of The Baker’s Boy

Always exposing Clarksville to creative writing through his classes at APSU and the visiting writers series is Barry Kitterman. He told us the background of and read a passage in his book, The Baker’s Boy. It is a story set in Belize where we explore the world of a school teacher Tanner Johnson, who is in the Peace Corp. Taking the first steps into the school Tanner saw two boys fighting and it wasn’t even breakfast yet. He sees a boy disciplined by being beaten with a rope. The 15 boys in his class are wild birds suddenly in a cage when they are indoors. Out doors they re-energized as if fingers were in sockets. Tanner is a man who is painfully aware of his personal limitations and who, in present time, is incapable of being very responsible because of the doubt in himself. This is his story of how the past follows him.

Barry’s poetry writing shapes his choice of words and one imagines a second meaning to many phrases. Each part of the story makes a vivid scene in my mind. Barry was in the Peace Corp in Belize. He taught at a school for children.

Barry said that what you may think is absolutely ridiculous in this story is probably completely true and what seems true is probably made up. This book was a ten year writing process. When asked if it has to be difficult to write a book, Barry said he believes that poets put a lot of thought into each word and that should be true of fiction writers too.

Barry admitted that part of the time working on a historical novel like this is sorting out the emotions and affect the experiences had on him. Also I found out that Barry’s main character does a lot of things that Barry never did. In the main character, Tanner, Barry is working out not only his experiences in Belize but why other people did what they did. He puts himself in their shoes.

Like the ghost that haunts main character Tanner, Barry’s well chosen words paint haunting images.

Besides teaching at APSU and having an active family life, Barry has hosted Bread and Words at APSU for 14 years running to raise money for Loaves and Fishes. He is a Blues musician and writer. He will be in the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville this October.

Sonny Brewer: Author of The Poet of Tolstoy Park and editor of Stories from the Blue Moon Cafe: An Anthology of Southern Writers.

Known to be quite a character and an easy talker (tells a two day story that could have been told in four hours), lively Sonny told us the story of how he fell into writing The Poet of Tolstoy Park. He became fascinated with a Henry Stewart, a man who died several years before Sonny was born. Sonny writes Henry’s story which starts when Henry is told by his doctor that he has a short time to live. Henry abandons wearing shoes and moves to warm Alabama. One thing he does there is build a round house out of cement blocks.

Sonny’s research of Henry Stewart gives up interesting and bizarre things about Henry. Sonny was able to lease the still existing round house so he could restore and study it. From newspaper articles, writings and dates of the cement blocks made by Henry, Sonny surmised that Henry had a major transformation (wake-up) which changed his life.

Listening to the story of how Sonny researched and wrote about Henry, one can’t help feeling they are made of similar stuff. Sonny sees the beauty in this human spirit who transformed religious studies to a love of nature. The book quotes Chief Seattle several times. He would have known about him, says Sonny, and he was a lover of Tolstoy, who was a fan of Henry George. You can google it, says Sonny to most questions. Sonny has had similar transformations in his life and people have even told him that maybe he is the reincarnation of Henry Stewart. Sonny won’t go that far but cannot explain his fascination with Henry’s life.“Takes one to recognize one”, I surmise.

In another session Sonny talked about a nonfiction book he wrote about his dog being lost. It was such an involved episode in his life that Sonny’s editor told him to write a book about it. Sonny says that writing nonfiction is more difficult than fiction and you still have to be careful about changing the names and such.

Sonny’s trouble these days is that his editor is waiting for him to “get to” his writing. Sonny’s editor is ready to promote a book that Sonny hasn’t written yet. Knowing that most writers are struggling to get noticed, Sonny knows he is living well. Having a deadline helps him get ‘er done. He tells us to believe in saying “I’m going to write a masterpiece and I’m going to do it in 6 weeks.” Just do it. On cue from his editor, he rewrote his Cormac book in a month. He got his start in writing when a college teacher told him that what he had written was sweetness and light. That convinced him to change his major to journalism. Getting together with other writers has fueled him tremendously. While speaking at lunch he said his writing group had just picked a better title to another book he is writing.

Suzanne Hudson: In the Dark of the Moon

Suzanne Hudson said she started writing books because Sonny bugged her into it. While at college together, she had won prizes for her writing including first place in a Hackney Literary award with 3,000 entries. Winning scared her out of writing and 30 years later Sonny talked her into writing again. Her books have a dark side, she said. She cannot write sweet stories, even when she tries. Her mom begged her to write a nice story and it started out that way, but then the dark side moved in. Coming from a profession of being a guidance counselor at a Middle School, Suzanne starts writing and the story takes over.

It sounded to me as if she asks a question of the character and the answers come to her. Suzanne has written In the Dark of the Moon (Secrets and Lies Exploring the Cross Generational Darkness) and In a Temple of Trees. She says her books are not for the faint hearted. There’s even (bad) language. In a Temple of Trees involves a boy witnessing a murder.

Most of her stories involve big secrets. We all have secrets Suzanne says. It’s a fun exercise to just start writing about that.

Suzanne’s secret now is that she hates to present her books to the public. It makes her very nervous. Though that may have been true for her, none of her audience suffered. We laughed with her and followed her every word.

Suzanne has another writing name of Ruby Pearl Sapphire. Ruby is everything free that I secretly want to be, says Suzanne. Ruby has a low brow humor and insists that she knows what is best for her and for us. Ruby plans on writing such books as a child raising book titled: If you Insist on Having Little Monsters, at Least Raise Them Like This. And Pros and Cons of Thongs. Suzanne Hudson is the author of In a Temple of Trees, In the Dark of the Moon, and Opposable Thumbs.

Tracy Barrett: Advisor for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators; author of nine plus books.

Tracy Barrett started us off with an energized talk about writing for young adults and children. She was prepared with handouts, rapid fire information, and list of frequently asked questions with answers about this avenue of writing. She has an intense love of history and has written fiction and nonfiction. The handout listed essential bookshelf books like Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market by Writers Digest. Everything she said was so useful so we listened intently and I wrote furiously.

Is it easy or difficult to get published in this area?  She said it’s not impossible but it’s difficult. Between five and six thousand books are published a year, no one can estimate how many submissions are sent in. Even so, don’t worry so much about that number because editors have good quick judgment to sort out the “bad” stuff. Editors read submissions looking for reasons to title you an amateur, throw your letter out and get on to the next one. So don’t give them a reason. For example, in a submission letter do not say your children or grandma liked your book. Unless you are an educator, editors do not want to hear who liked it and saying that screams amateur.

Do you need an agent in this field? In the adult market, yes, definitely, she said. Any time you have contract questions an agent is so helpful. Her agent got her bigger advances and percentage of book sales, so she was worth that 15%. Agents are also drowning in submissions but when your agent sends in a submission to an editor, that editor may feel that there is a reason to be more interested. Submissions without an agent are also accepted all the time.

Tracy said that editors cannot tell us exactly what they want, but they do know what they do not want. For the 2- to 5-year-old group books are usually 200-500 words. If you are not an author/illustrator do not, in your submission, suggest an illustrator. If your submission is accepted, then you can suggest to your editor someone you know. Editors have files of illustrators just waiting to be picked. You do not have to worry about or pick your own illustrator.

Do not do rhyming picture books unless they are perfect rhymes. Read them out loud to make sure it reads well. Have someone else read it and every place they stumble, circle that and change it.

Editors do not like talking animals unless there is a reason for it. Peter Rabbit, for example, has to be a rabbit. If it can be a child instead of an animal, then it should be.

No talking body parts. Tracy laughed at this one; she didn’t know why it was such a problem.

The Middle Grade readers have two levels: early readers and middle grade. Know your audience. Young adult age 12 to college is the biggest category and has the most readers. Fifteen-year-olds have dilemmas that don’t match 10-year-olds. Don’t talk down to them. You can stretch the vocabulary. There is no topic you cannot touch. Murder, abuse, anything that is life experience. Length can be 30,000 words or twice that.

Barrett suggests having a critique group; nothing beats it. Share chapters with each other and get honest opinions back. In this field is it best to query editors first before writing? Tracy’s answer was straight: Write the Damn Book (WTDB)

Tracy filled us up with valuable information. She is a dynamic writer and speaker and she balances her writing and teaching Italian at Vanderbilt University by leaving her work at work and keeping her office and home completely organized. She said she is not naturally neat but she has no choice. Here is a list of books she has published: Anna of Byzantium; The 100-Year-Old Secret (Book I of “The Sherlock Files”); The Ancient Chinese World; On Etruscan Time; Growing Up in Colonial America; Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky in the series Celebrate the States; The Trail of Tears: An American Tragedy; “The Children’s Crusade”; and Cold in Summer.

Tracy is Advisor for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and organizes their fall conference in Nashville (this September 20 and 21) and she hopes to see all of us there.

I was once told by a mentor that if I needed to learn something, I should go to the children’s section of the library and get a book on it there. Children’s books are written to be understood and applied to life. I have never had a disagreement with that.

Poet Leigh Anne Couch: Managing editor of The Sewanee Review and author of Houses Fly Away

It was said earlier that poets are the masters of words. Using the least amount possible they describe feelings in a most powerful way. That is certainly true of Leigh Anne Couch. Her words and images flowed like fondue chocolate.

In Beast, she describes the pretty bird in his mouth that he would like to let go, let tongue out of its cage.

In Nest she describes a woman in the hospital who is hiding. Her tests show nothing. Outside the window is a hornet’s nest, the color of something dying for years.

Opposite of Helium (for Milton the beloved dog)

…Love was a helium balloon, in a room with open windows.

Leigh Anne told us that she used to have a thesaurus next to her at all times, looking for better words to use. But she wrote awful poetry and now instead she uses a dictionary, looking up the meanings and roots of words and finding satisfaction in their use.

Palm Reader

…See the crows hammering inside her chest?

To Be Fire

…I wanted the stones to wear me like a blouse.

Camel Stamp

…This camel has a very long neck to feel the shiver of words for a very long time.

Blas Falconer: Creative writing teacher at APSU and author of The Perfect Hour and A Question of Gravity and Light

Blas had the chairs arranged in a square and asked each one of us why we were there. It immediately loosened us up. He gave us a handout of several types of poetry and we read each one. His point was that we don’t have to relate to or like every type of poem, but like looking at fine art, there is a style that we can relate to. And just like fine art where we don’t know the exact meaning that the artist is trying to convey, so it is with poetry. We did a writing exercise, taking a poem and changing the words to be our own. Blas does this type of writing when he hits a wall and can’t write anything.

He asked each of us what we thought of the poems that he handed out.

Rita Read, who taught English for 27 years, noticed that no matter what people said about the poems, Blas was sure to validate their opinion. He wasn’t threatened if someone didn’t like a poem. He maintained that they could find some poetry that they would like. Rita said that if she were a college student she would take his class. When you have a teacher who loves what they do, it makes you want to love it too.

Blas commented that a good poem is someone having an epiphany. If you know where you are going when you start out, then you’re probably not going to do well. He said to let your insides speak. The mind makes amazing leaps and associations when we don’t try to control it. Bernis Terhune gave us a chuckle when she said that in her writing group they try to make everything perfect, and it drives her crazy.

I was happily checking out new postings on a young relative’s MySpace website when I stumbled upon this program, colorful centered on his page.  This application, though “not developed by MySpace,” is accessed through and used onMySpace, which should make it not just a parental freak out but a serious MySpace concern. Look up “Make a Baby” in search mode and you’ll find a blurb that says “Make babies [plural] with your friends. Clink the link below to start.” The site is run by Sibblingz and the link is http://www.bebo.com/makeababy. It was created in November, 2007.

Here’s how it works: You can, as a single person [read: child] or in tandem with any and as many friends as you choose, opt to have a child, one that emerges on your website at about kindergarten age [which is scribed on the schoolhouse behind the babies on the start-up page]. You can “genetically engineer” your child with the desired sex, hair color and “straight, wavy, curly” etc., skin color, eye color (reminiscent of the wide-eye paintings of the 70s), the shape of the smile… You can choose personality traits too. It’s akin to creating an avatar. (In researching this application, I created “Mimi,” pictured at left).

You pay for babies (the prices rises after the third child is created) and services for the care of these little cuties with these “baby bucks,” earned by things as innocuous as “logging in” for 100 points a day, reporting deadbeat parents of other babies, inviting relatives, issuing “mate” requests to friends you might want to produce a baby, and other options that include responding to “offers” issued by myofferpal, one of those advertising sites I universally block or delete from my computer.

These offers, which reward anything from 40 or 50 to as much as 2500 baby bucks based on your response to said multiple offers for assorted ring tones, PayPal, auto insurance quotes, jokes of the day, Coke and Pepsi surveys, Slot Machine secrets, and mobile cash. There are 5 pages of these ads with baby bucks points noted for each one. Most of the offer pay less than 100 baby bucks, while the care, amusement and feeding of the “baby” costs more, ergo, multiple trips to cyberads to rake up points.

Another dangerous option comes at the very beginning of this babymaking process; it is a request for your e-mail password with the seemingly innocuous intent of finding friends to share in your procreative activities. That potentially dangerous request has been turning up on a number of websites lately, and both children and adults need to be extra vigilant and NEVER GIVE OUT PASSWORDS or access to e-mail addresses and therefore address books.

You can spend your web-based baby bucks on food, fun or health care. Giving away your unwanted baby when you are bored with it costs 300 baby bucks. Or if you are opting out of  the daily care and feeding of your baby, you can snap that little one into “doll mode” and turn off your responsibility. When you earn 1000 baby bucks you can upgrade your baby to “an older age level.” The application that appears on your page shows how effective you are at child care, using a graph to chart good and bad parenting.

What is wrong with this picture? What were they thinking?

These Saturday-morning-cartoon caricatures of very young children appeal to very young children and young adolescents. They are cute. But the implications of this site are not cute; they are hawking baby-making andd making the very real problem of teen pregnancy and all of its ramifications into a game, desensitizing children to the realities of having children. the option to turn your baby
“to doll mode” says it all. It doesnt work that way in real life. To have children and adolescents seeking out cybermates to have babies is obscene.

I was aggravated by the recent trend on some social websites to “send your friend a drink” gimmick. I was irritated by the “buy a friend gimmick” now used on both My Yearbook and MySpace, offended by the concept of buying and selling people. Now I’ve stumbled on this baby-making game and my sense of humor is completely gone.

Call me old-fashioned or outdated and you may be right. But I see younger and younger children acting older and older too soon, spurred on by a youth centered, sex centered media, being pushed into adulthood before they’ve had a chance to be children.

It’s not that the characters aren’t aren’t comic book cute, or fun to dress up; many of us did that with dolls when when were young. But children (including adolescents and young teens) are impressionable. It is the idea, the implication of having a young child or adolescent lured into this simulated random cyber-parenting and its distorted take oo having and raising children, the diminishing of the responsibility, the disregard and whim with which this cyberchild can be made and be disposed of when it becomes inconvenient, that appalls me.  

It’s only a game, you may say. And it is. But it is not “cute.” It is not innocent. If you read between the lines it is about values, attitudes, or the lack thereof, and how much commercial profit can come out of this questionable children’s game. As a grandparent, I try to be vigilant, which is how I stumbled onto this. If I still had young children, I would have no choice but to be both vigilant and unfraid to to use the uninstall/delete button.

Promote Green, a promotional marketing and logo merchandising firm, launches this month offering a full line of eco-friendly custom imprinted advertising specialties. Promote Green aims to give businesses an environmentally responsible alternative to the traditional promotional product.

While attending a local Earth Day celebration this April, Weiss remembers, “I heard the conservation message many times but saw little evidence of the message in the promotional products and giveaways handed out.” According to Weiss, reflection on the issue led to her realizing the need of a local entity enabling all businesses to easily purchase environmentally sound marketing products for everyday use.

Promote Green arranges custom imprinting eco-friendly promotional products and advertising specialties to make green logo merchandising and green brand marketing accessible to the community.

According to Weiss,

“By utilizing the services offered by Promote Green, businesses will be sending the following message to their clients, their employees and manufacturers throughout the world: we value the environment, we value a sustainable future for all and we are ready to incorporate our values into our logo merchandising and marketing campaigns.” — Amanda Davis Weiss

Promote Green offers company pens, magnets and sports bottles made of recycled material, custom screen printed organic apparel, logo items that are completely biodegradable within months.

Weiss contends:

“These are the types of products environmentally responsible corporations are now using to promote their image. Values driven marketing ensures credibility to the public and, in return, loyalty from the public. By offering only eco-friendly products, Promote Green is hoping to help the local business community market their brands and identities responsibly.”

You can contact Promote Green at 931.220.2991. Promote Green has both print and online catalogs of marketing merchandise and also offers “The Green Book,” a green e-book catalog.

In a well-attended reception on the fifth floor of the new Farmers and Merchants Bank Tower, Clarksville Mayor Johnny Piper jubilantly invited the guests to witness the unveiling of the city’s new brand. Branding is a marketing term that encompasses a municipality’s slogan and logo as a unified identity characteristic. The invited audience was filled with luminaries of all stripes, to include Jim Durrett, the Mayor’s Chief of Staff, State Senator Rosalind Kurita, Mayor Pro Temp Barbara Johnson, APSU President Tim Hall, City Council members Geno Grubbs, Deanna McLaughlin, Jim Doyle and Wayne Harrison, Arthur Bing of the Clarksville Transit Systems, C-MC Schools System Director Michael Harris, CPD Deputy Chief Frankie Gray, as well as Interim Co-City Attorney Tim Harvey.

Mayor Piper opened the reception with welcoming remarks and thanks to the members of the City Council’s Communications Committee which had worked so diligently on this project. Council members Deanna McLaughlin and Geno Grubbs gave the story of the development of this new brand. McLaughlin spoke of how the idea of a new brand came to be and development of the concept and focus which it should address. Grubbs added that committee members had worked through an extensive amount of public comment and input and then reviewed that data with the marketing firm of MMA Creative. Mayor Piper he was confident everyone would be impressive with the new brand/logo.

Council members Geno Grubs and Deanna McLaughlin address reception guests.

Mayor Piper introduced MMA Creative President/CEO Mike McCloud (above), who guided the audience through the unveiling. He spoke of how the Council’s Communication Committee’s focus research had resulted in the criteria that was pursued in creating this new brand for Clarksville. That research showed that our strong points, according residents input, centered on a ideal location and accomplishments of our people. From there, it was determined that the final brand/logo had to be Authentic – distinctive and true to our community and our objectives as a community on the move; Creative- visually eye catching, with a message that covers many important thematic bases; Easy to Adapt- readily workable and easily incorporated alongside all city promotional efforts, including economic and community development, tourism and public events; Memorable- its look and message should be easy to member and leave a lasting impression. McCloud said that he and the Committee believe that this new brand meets all of these criteria.

Now the concentration will shift to prioritizing and assessing how best to roll out the new brand/logo in a cost-effective and efficient manner. Incorporating it onto a re-design of the City Website and determining how to use it and its message at the City’s promotional booth at an upcoming major retail business trade show in May are already being discussed, according to a press kit handout. (Above- MMA Creative’s McCloud addresses reception guests.)

Additionally, City signage and promotional materials will have to be updated with the new brand/logo, to include promotional material for public events. McCloud stated that a realistic timeframe for full implementation can be as long as two years. Gathering cost estimates for replacing current signage and all existing promotional materials will begin soon. Meanwhile, the City will begin encouraging businesses and local community groups to start using the new City brand/logo where and when appropriate in promoting their own respective events or activities.

(Mike Kopp, MMA Creative VP of Public Affairs Strategy displays the City’s new Brand.)

The technical development aspects having been dispensed with, McCloud began the unveiling. From his laptop he opened a projected animation which displayed the city’s name in large blue lettering against a white background. Then in the lower right-hand corner a small compass dial appeared and started to spin. Finally, a red compass needle materializes, rotates and settles True North, representing the “I” in Clarksville, as red lettering materializes below the city’s name, proclaiming, “Tennessee’s Top Spot!”. With that, a large easel billboard was turned around to show the new brand in hard copy. See photo above. “Clarksville – Tennessee’s Top Spot!” was launched. Commemorative key chains emblazoned with the new brand/logo in white lettering on a blue background, were then made available to the guests.

There was no media coverage from Nashville; only local media outlets were present.

Faces at the reception