Rivers of Thought
Life, Leadership, Business & Technology
- Our Team of Volunteers
22 volunteers gathered at Potters Bridge Park in Noblesville. After checking in and receiving a commemorative t-shirt, the group gathered for introductions and instructions. Borrowing from the practice used by many golf outings, rather than hole sponsors we signed up 10 canoe sponsors. As the canoe pairings were announced, each team was given a sign with the name of their canoe. The canoes were either named after the sponsoring company or with a name designated by the sponsor. We then piled into the cars of our land crew for the short drive to the Riverwood Canoe Launch north of town.
We were met at the launch by Kevin Hardie of the Friends of the White River and Brant Cowser, our canoe outfitter. Each team attached their sponsor’s sign to their ship, grabbed paddles, PFD’s, trash bags and gloves and began the short trek down to the river. After some last minute instructions from Kevin the teams shoved off from the shore and began scouting for trash and debris. Before all of the canoes were launched, our able land crew had collected half a bag of trash from the banks around the put in. The nine canoes launched without incident, unless of course you count the one team that tipped as they were climbing in obviously trying to cool off after carrying the canoe down to the river.
By the time Carmen and launched as the sweep canoe (our job was to hang back and ensure everyone progressed down river) one team had already retrieved a broken chair from the waters. As the canoes made their way downstream, we discovered an assortment of trash and debris including tires, a hose, a trellis, a sleeping bag and mountains of trash. We were unable to retrieve some items such as a hot water heater, a 55 gallon drum, and part of a dock. We noted their location so they can be removed during the fall clean up.
Shortly after launching, I realized I had forgotten to tell the teams where the take out was at the end of our 2 ¼ miles. All I could do at that point was hope they realized that when they got to the covered bridge they should stop! Lesson learned for our NEXT clean up!
After about two hours, the teams began arriving at Potter’s Bridge and the pile of trash began to grow. There had been some confusion over the location of the dumpster and so rather than being located in the parking lot at the top of the bank above the take-out; it was about ½ mile down the road in the south parking lot. Each team hauled their treasures up the hill to the staging area with assistance from the land crew and the other teams. The bank at Potter’s Bridge is fairly steep and some of the finds took a great deal of effort to get them to the top. It’s amazing how heavy a water-logged sleeping bag can be!
By noon, all the teams but one were in and accounted for, the last team was nowhere in sight. After many tense minutes, they finally came into view. Now, if TV theme music could have been heard, the song from Sanford and Sons would have definitely been playing. The team was paddling with all their might, but barely moving forward. Their canoe had the appearance of a garbage scow. Every inch was crammed with trash, a four foot diameter table top was lying across the gunwales between the bow and the stern and more trash was piled on top of it. Behind the canoe were a mini-fridge, a gas tank, and a set of stairs all floating along tied one to the other. It took a half a dozen of us to carry their load up the bank to the staging area; in fact, it took five just to haul the canoe up the path because of the huge piece of water-laden foam rubber in the bottom!
All told, the teams filled ¾ of a 15 yard dumpster with over 1,000 pounds of trash! After a box lunch, the tired volunteers took one last look at the pile of trash and headed for home.
I would like to thank our teams and our sponsors for making A Network of Support for the White River a huge success!
In the ship, The Ebony, sponsored by Mary Ellen & Gene Ton, were their grandsons JT Ton and Brad Ton.
The ship, Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf Landscape Architects was ably captained by Rick Brown and Cody Brown.
Elements Engineering’s vessel was guided by George Caraghiaur and Joanne Bule.
Alan Francoeur and Lori Gooding piloted the boat co-sponsored by Medical Records to Go and christened the Zoe by Jane Burch.
crittur.com’s can-do canoe was paddled by Scott Martin and George Seat.
Nancy Cuppy and Drew Cuppy guided the canoe sponsored by Integrated Development Services.
EnthEnergy’s vessel was ably manned by Jamal Handy and Tim Holtz.
The Perfect Life was sponsored by Ron West and was powered by Jack Manard and Karen Schneider.
Carmen and I canoed the Gabby Belle, sponsored by Judy and Dave Hollander.
Our fantastic land crew consisted of Kathleen and Tom Gruhl, Andrea Osman and Angie Worzala.
Last, but not least, I would like to thank Cypress Communications for helping to sponsor this event.
As I stated when I started writing “Rivers of Thought” several months ago, I intend to write about a wide variety of topics from the environment, to sustainability, to history, to whatever. So today I am writing about Hip-Hop, yes, Hip-Hop…a pretty strange topic coming from a classic rock junkie to be sure.
A year ago I knew nothing about Hip-Hop, never listened to it, never cared for it. I can remember telling my sons what back in the day that rap and Hip-Hop burst on the scene that it is a fad, just like disco, and it would disappear. I probably even told them that if they were still listening to it in 10 or 15 years, then come tell me how great it is. I, like a lot of people my age, had a preconceived notion about the music and frankly about the performers. I probably had the same view of this genre that my parents had of rock back when the Beatles and the Stones invaded America.
I never thought I would become an adult that would judge people based on appearance. My generation was looked down upon because we wore our hair long, grew beards, wore bell-bottomed jeans, and had our own way of communicating with each other, from “hey man”, or “dude”, to “groovy” and “peace” to the even more obscure. Our songs had meanings that only we could understand. To our parents it was too loud, all about drugs, or sex, anti government (ok they WERE all about drugs and sex and anti-government but don’t tell my folks!)
I can remember several years ago taking my son and a couple of his friends to a Jay-Z and DMX concert. I never felt so out of place. It was too loud, I didn’t understand any of the words, and everybody was dressed funny. I can’t remember now if it was Jay-Z or DMX or Redman or Method Man, but one of those guys wore his pants so low he spent the entire show grabbing them and hitching them back up. Don’t know if any of the songs were anti-government, but I know that sex and drugs were covered. At least I think they were, even when I could understand the words, I couldn’t understand the words.
Just about a year ago my son, Brad, launched his career in Hip-Hop. Through his various gigs I have had the opportunity to meet a number of local Hip-Hop performers and have gotten to learn a little about the business of Hip-Hop, yes the business of Hip-Hop. These guys (and gals) are working incredibly hard at pursuing their dreams of expressing themselves through music. Most of them are working full time at other professions, while spending the remainder of the waking hours performing, writing, producing, marketing, selling, networking, negotiating, and promoting their music. Watching Brad navigate through the business side has been a fascinating experience. He’s had some wonderful experiences and some “learning experiences”.
Underneath the sideways, oversized hat, the baggy shirt and pants, underneath the necklaces and “bling” are business men and women tirelessly working for the love of the music. Shame on me for falling into the trap of generations and judging based on the clothes, or based on the music.
So to Jaecyn, Rusty Redenbacher, Son of Thought, Ace One, Saint Recon and of course, Brad Real thank you for letting me hang and for the honor and privilege of sharing your music with a 51 year-old former long-haired hippie freak.
Peace,
Papa Real
Something about the American Reinvestment & Recovery Act (aka The Stimulus Package) has been bothering me for several months now. Until recently I was not able to really put my finger on what was bugging me.
It started with the initial discussions surrounding it. Yes, it is a staggering amount of money. Yes, the country is incurring huge amounts of debt. However, many of those that came out in opposition were using the “we are mortgaging our children’s and grandchildren’s future”, “we are piling debt on their backs”, or “our children will not be able to pay off our debts”. These are the same people that want to continue to burn oil, gas and coal to power our daily lives. If that is not mortgaging our children’s future, I don’t know what is. Every mile we drive, every lump of coal we burn, creates a huge burden of debt on our children’s head. Even if you don’t buy into global warming or climate change, you cannot argue that our addiction to fossil fuels is creating a huge health burden for the future. Coal is a cheap fuel only because we are not paying for its full cost.
Almost immediately after ARRA was signed into law, I would sit in meetings with other business professionals and invariably the discussion would be splattered with comments like “I want to get a piece of it”, “we have to figure out how to get a hold of our share”, or “where can we find a project to submit”. One website that was gathering project information had over 9,000 projects for the state of Indiana alone. This was before one dime was released or even before we had any understanding of what was in the volumes of text of the bill.
Recently, I participated in a workshop helping to provide information regarding the stimulus package. I sat at a table with one gentleman that admitted he was embarrassed to be there. When I asked why, it was because he was so against the Stimulus Package and the Obama Administration that he didn’t really want to take the money. Almost as if it was tainted or blood money. But yet he was there trying to get his piece of it for his new business venture. Unbelievable to me. This was a man who had been laid off from his company after 10+ years of service, was so against the Stimulus (which was written to create and save jobs) that he felt guilty even attending a workshop, yet was there to get funding for a new business. If ARRA had not been passed, it makes you wonder where his business would look for funding. Of course, this same man informed me that alternative energy was a joke and we would never solve the energy crisis that way (his company was building a new fuel efficient engine). We needed to rely on nuclear. When I admitted that I struggle with the nuclear question because of the toxic waste, his answer was that we bury it and sometime in the next thousand years we would find a way to dispose of it by blasting it into the sun.
Now, really? First of all, isn’t that kind of like hiding your head in the sand and letting our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren solve a problem that we create. (Kind of like borrowing from the future isn’t it?) Then, seriously, we are going to blast it off to the sun? When are we going to learn that trashing the natural world is only going to cause problems in the future? Who knows what kind of problems that would cause? We already have to worry about space walking astronauts getting clobbered by junk we sent up hurtling through space.
Ok, I digress, back to the Stimulus Package. Most businesses will not receive funding directly, especially small businesses. Yes, there are some provisions for small business like the elimination of the SBA Loan Fees, however the majority of businesses will benefit from the stimulus by providing goods and services to businesses or government agencies that ARE receiving funds. I heard some excellent advice last week that made me realize what was bothering me so much about what appeared to be almost panhandling. Ed Dougherty from B&D Consulting in Washington, D.C. had this piece of advice for businesses looking to gain from ARRA. Look first at your own business strategy, and then look to see where your strategy aligns with the goals and objectives of the stimulus package. Once you have identified where your strategy aligns with the goals then you can begin to identify the projects and the companies that are being funded by the stimulus and initiate your sales and marketing methodology to target those projects and companies. This really made sense to me. In a sense he was saying to remain true to your business strategy. Don’t change the focus of your business to chase the stimulus money, but rather, seek the areas of alignment. I’d be willing to bet a significant number of those 9,000 projects are those that don’t really fit the strategy of the company or companies that submitted them.
Follow me
Insights is the weekly, thought-provoking newsletter from Jeffrey S. Ton.
Every Tuesday – Delivered to your inbox.
A different focus each week:
Leadership Thought – A lesson-learned, an insight shared
Leadership Q&A – A response to a reader’s or a connection’s question
Leadership Spotlight – A highlight of a person or company helping others to grow their leadership
Rivers of Thought – A more personal thought, observation or musing
