Category Archives: Summer Showcase

Discovering Your Cognitive Surplus

Posted on May 2, 2012 | Leave a comment

This summer, I’m turning the Low Hanging Fruit blog over to you.

The only potential downside of this plan is between now and May 30th I need to help you (yes, you personally) see that

  1. you have a valuable  story to contribute, and
  2. you are brave enough to share it.

We should talk!

The easiest way to do that is if you would be so kind as to get in touch with me.  Then, we can talk about you and the amazing impact you are making in your corner of the world and develop a plan for how you can best share that on the internet.  If you are ready to talk, click the link below to schedule a 30 minute chat with me.

I’m ready to chat!

Too Soon?

If the idea of  talking to me one-on-one about the amazing things you are doing kinda makes you want to throw up,  that’s ok.

While I promise I will be absolutely, completely gentle with you– I get how scary it is to put yourself out there–especially the first time.

Would it be easier to talk to me about what your kids are doing? Or what your neighbor is doing?  Or to write a post, take a photo, or make a movie about people who inspire you?

If that’s the case,  I want to hear about it.  Click here to schedule some time to tell me about the amazing people you know.

More Inspiration

I love everything about the story of Caine’s Arcade.  I love how devoted Caine is.  I love how much support he gets from his Dad.  I love the filmmaker who maintained his relationship with his own inner child well enough to recognize genius when he saw it.

Is there a Caine in your world who has something important to teach us?

Tell me about it

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Posted in Admin, storytelling, Summer Showcase

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How Do You Spend Your Cognitive Surplus?

Posted on April 12, 2012 | 4 Comments

I love serendipity.

Now that the weather is getting warmer I’ve been thinking about last year’s Summer of Small Voices.  I knew I wanted to host another showcase this summer but was having a hard time coming up with a theme.

Then, while working on a lesson for the LHF Greenhouse, I stumbled upon this TED Talk from 2010.

Clay provides several great examples of cognitive surplus in his speech and he got me thinking:  sure there are examples of people working together on big projects to impress their friends and improve their communities; but for every Wikipedia there must be countless people with amazing ideas who need a little money, a little help, or a little encouragement to turn that idea into something more than a hobby.

This summer, I’m dedicating the Low Hanging Fruit blog to helping those people (read:  you) find the “little something” they need get moving. Continue reading →

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Posted in Guest Posts, Summer Showcase

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Big Voices Start Small

Posted on September 20, 2011 | Leave a comment
Photograph of Rosa Parks with Dr. Martin Luthe...

Image via Wikipedia

The weather is turning cooler in the northern hemisphere which means it’s time to bring our summer of small voices series to an end.  I am so grateful to everyone who shared their story and hope you were as inspired by their stories as I was.  

If, through out this series you ever found yourself saying “I could never do that,”  today’s final guest post by Susan Johnstone is for you.

In the story we usually hear about Rosa Parks, she was an ordinary black woman in Alabama who just tapped in to a well of courage one day and turned the United States upside down by refusing to be segregated according to law.

This is something most of us feel we could never do. We’re sure we just don’t have that kind of deep courage or conviction.

Well Rosa Parks didn’t either – at least not when she started. Continue reading →

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Posted in Personal Development, Summer Showcase

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17 Years of Being My Own Boss: One Woman’s story

Posted on September 13, 2011 | 2 Comments

As we draw close to the end of the summer of small voices series (the final post will be next week) I’m excited to share one woman’s story of entrepreneurial success.

Linda Gatten Buttler is the president and owner of Butler Consulting, Inc where she has been helping organizations target grant seeking, fundraising, training and management since 1994.  She has also gone out of her way to show me the “entrepreneurial ropes”  during Low Hanging Fruit Communications first year–for which I am extremely grateful.

Welcome, Linda!

It all started with purchasing a shopping center. After eight years of capacity building, organizational developing and revamping board and staff members at a dying family service agency, we were a team prepared to conduct a successful capital campaign.

As the Executive Director, I was challenged to administer, supervise, fundraise, create, mentor, monitor, market, counsel and lead (are we having fun yet?). With a little help from our friends, we were able to position the family service agency as a well-deserved recipient of a large, anonymous gift from an “angel” (what every campaign needs, right?). This individual’s campaign donation enabled us to purchase a shopping center with monthly income from a non-profit health clinic and a pizza business (what fantastic marriages!) that insured sustainability.

This campaign turned out to be my  “swan song”, as upon its completion  a “higher power” delivered a message encouraging me  to continue serving and assisting others through my gifts–but not as a traditional non-profit employee. Continue reading →

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Posted in Summer Showcase

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Beth’s Legacy

Posted on September 7, 2011 | 1 Comment

This week’s small voices story comes from Shannon M. Turner.  Shannon works for Alternate ROOTS as Manager of Programs and Services. When she’s not being an arts administrator, she also blogs, writes poetry, performs, and tells a pretty good story. Shannon enjoys her residence in the Little 5 Points community of Atlanta, GA, and along with her active membership in Alternate ROOTS since 2005, she serves on the Advisory Board for the Community Arts Network and recently joined the board of WonderRoot. She received an M.F.A. in Arts Administration and Public Dialogue from Virginia Tech in 2007.

Thanks Shannon, for sharing such a personal story with us!

Often times in life, we meet people along the way who leave a lasting impact on us. Sometimes it’s for things they do. Or don’t do. Or for the things they do to you. Sometimes it’s for the example they set.

When I was in high school, my father’s job led us to move back to a town we’d lived in before, Kingsport, TN. It was halfway through my junior year. As hard as it is to move that late in high school, you would think it would have been easier to move back to a place I’d already lived. In some ways it was. In others, it was every bit as hard.

One joyful part about it is that I got to know new people that I had not known before, somewhat in partial thanks to the large church we were serving in Kingsport 2.0.

The person I put at the top of this category was Beth Griffin. Beth was one of those ethereal creatures who was seemingly always happy. She could find the good side of anything. Continue reading →

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Posted in storytelling, Summer Showcase, Values

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