Vegging Out

I should stay away from chat boards.

I learned recently from a chat board that the BBC will be reviving the series Dr. Who. An article on the BBC website confirmed this - hopefully good - news.

Why am I only hopeful? Because the last few seasons of Dr. Who sucked. Poor acting and abysmal scripts combined with the show's usual low budget to produce stories that I found both bewildering and boring.

I longed for the classic stories, hilarious dialogue and compelling acting of the Pertwee and Baker years. I first enjoyed those shows as a child growing up in Britain. Then I enjoyed them a second time as repeats on American PBS stations.

Dr. Who still draws me. Having discovered the BBC's website through the article, I spent most of my Saturday geeking out by reading old episode listings. I even watched the web-recreation of Shada, a classic missing story.

I need to go out more.

Web Commentary

Now this is a very effective web commentary on the Florida recount and subsequent lack of fallout.

Thanks again to Jon Voss at Pollworker for finding this.

One Benefit of the California Recall Election

My friend and former co-worker, Jon Voss, has obtained a (very) temporary job as an election worker for the California recall election. He's even started a blog, Pollworker, to chronicle his experiences.

Jon writes:

"As cynical as I am about the whole voting thing, I'm starting to feel like I have some ownership of this process. Weird. But I am, afterall, an Election Officer now. I just wish I could get a uniform. Or at least an orange helmet and vest like I think you get when you become an Earthquake Marshall, or whatever it's called. I think I'll do that next. I never knew you could have so many rewarding civic duties when you're unemployed and not patriotically contributing to the economic growth engine of america."

Jon includes in his blog the picture below. It appears to be of a ballot being inserted into some kind of equipment. I can't tell for sure what it does. It looks to me like a paper shredder.

Don't they use those for ballots only in Florida?

Ticking Away

Safe and Sound

Ann emailed me today from St. Petersburg. She's doing just fine so I will be able to sleep tonight.

The trip from Boston took forever. However, she's staying in a nice apartment and has a Russian PhD candidate as an interpreter.

She's also finding her ability to read Cyrillic to be invaluable.

To Russia, My Love

I went with Ann to Logan airport today. She's flying to Russia on a human rights trip. I'm really proud of her.

This is the first time we've been separated for over a week since we started dating. It will be strange to have the apartment to myself.

We joked about what I would do if anything happened to her. If she is kidnapped or detained, I will immediately morph this blog into the "Free Ann" website. I would expect full support from the U.S. government. I know people who know people at the State Department, you know.

In the meantime, here's another picture of her from our July trip to Britain.

"You Just Can't Make This Stuff Up" Department



President Bush at a fundraiser for the Republican candidate for the Mississippi governorship, Haley Barbour, at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson, Sept. 12, 2003.

The picture was kindly pointed out by a poster on The Usual Suspects, a chat board I've just started frequenting.

From today's issue of The Weekly Spin, sponsored by PR Watch.

Subscription to The Weekly Spin is free.

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NOW THEY KNOW HOW YOU FEEL

Humorous columnist Dave Barry is driving telemarketers nuts with his recent column that published the toll-free number for their lobby group, the American Teleservices Association. Barry encouraged readers to call the ATA "to tell them what you think" about telemarketers.

Thousands of readers took Barry up on his suggestion, and 10 days later, they're still calling. ""I feel just terrible, especially if they were eating or anything," Barry says.

SOURCE: Miami Herald, September 10, 2003

More web links related to this story are available.

Visit this forum to discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum.

Keeping Busy...

Much of my work time at Oxfam America this summer was spent in the preparations leading up to this action by Procter & Gamble. It was definitely time well spent.

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Advocacy Groups and Shareholders Persuade Procter & Gamble to Offer Fair Trade Coffee

Largest US Coffee Company to Pay Farmers a Fair Price

Small-scale coffee farmers around the world scored a victory this week when Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), the largest seller of coffee in the US, announced that it would introduce Fair Trade Certified™ coffee products through its specialty coffee division, Millstone.

The announcement comes in response to dialogue with shareholders about the company's practices, as well as pressure from consumers, people of faith, human rights activists, and humanitarian organizations. With P&G's announcement that it will offer Fair Trade Certified™ coffee through Millstone, the advocacy groups have agreed to suspend their campaigns against the corporation and the shareholders have withdrawn the resolution they had filed on the issue.

"With world market prices as low as they are right now, we see that many coffee farmers cannot maintain their families and their land anymore. We need Fair Trade now more than ever," says Jerónimo Bollen, Director of Manos Campesinas, a Fair Trade Certified™ coffee cooperative in Guatemala.

Over the past three years, the price of coffee has fallen almost 50 percent, and now hovers near a 30-year low. This has resulted in a widespread humanitarian crisis for 25 million coffee-growing families in over 50 developing countries. Unable to cover their costs of production, small farmers cannot earn the income necessary to feed their families, send their children to school, purchase essential medicines, and stay on their land. Grown by democratically organized cooperatives, Fair Trade Certified™ coffee guarantees farmers a minimum of $1.26 a pound for their harvest. Last month, the International Coffee Organization composite indicator average price for green coffee was 52 cents a pound.

"P&G’s action is an excellent example of what can be accomplished through the collaboration of shareholder activists and nonprofit organizations. It's a win-win for the world's small-scale coffee farmers, for the environment, and for P&G itself," said Sister Ruth Rosenbaum, Executive Director of the Center for Reflection, Education and Action (CREA). CREA and Domini Social Investments (Domini) led the shareholder dialogue with P&G. "We brought very serious concerns to P&G, and after considerable dialogue, the company was willing to take action. This dialogue continues, and we have achieved a working relationship with P&G that we expect will lead to further constructive action."

With this decision, P&G, one of the four largest coffee companies in the world, joins an impressive list of over 200 coffee companies that currently offer Fair Trade Certified™ coffee in the US. Procter & Gamble's Millstone will immediately offer Fair Trade Certified™ coffee to wholesale accounts (universities, restaurants, etc.) and to consumers through its website www.millstone.com. P&G has committed to build significant consumer demand for Fair Trade Certified™ coffee. This commitment is planned to result in P&G becoming a leading US buyer of Fair Trade Certified™ coffee—which would represent purchase of at least 2-3 million pounds per year, based on today's estimates.

"More farmers than ever before will now receive a fair price for their harvests," said Deborah James of Global Exchange. "By establishing a floor price, Fair Trade enables farmers to make a dignified living while providing new opportunities to cultivate high-quality, environmentally sustainable coffee."

"Domini is pleased that Procter & Gamble has become one of the world’s largest coffee companies to retail Fair Trade Certified™ coffee," said Adam Kanzer, Director of Shareholder Advocacy for Domini Social Investments, the manager of the Domini Social Equity Fund (NASDQ: DSEFX). "This is a small step forward, but a significant one. It is encouraging that as a major coffee company, P&G is willing to give Fair Trade Certified™ coffee a chance, and to put marketing dollars behind it. P&G's management has demonstrated a willingness to address serious, complex inequities in the market with forward-thinking action."

"Procter & Gamble's decision is a critical step to help make trade fair for the world's 25 million coffee-growing families, who continue to face destitution and ruin. Oxfam challenges global giants Kraft and Nestlé, as well as the US government, to take immediate steps to address the structural inequities that trap coffee farmers in a cycle of poverty," said Liam Brody of Oxfam.

"With coffee prices so low, it is more important now than ever that coffee drinkers always ask for Fair Trade Certified™ coffee," said Erin Gorman of Co-op America.

Over the course of the last two years, a range of shareholder and advocacy groups has each engaged Procter & Gamble on the issue of Fair Trade coffee. At the October 2001 P&G shareholder meeting, Global Exchange called on P&G to begin offering Fair Trade Certified™ coffee. In September 2002, Oxfam launched its "What's That in Your Coffee?" campaign, which called on the world's major coffee roasters—including Kraft Foods, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, and Sara Lee—to increase the market for Fair Trade coffee, to bring the current oversupply of coffee back into line with demand, and to help ensure that coffee farmers are able to earn a decent living.

In December 2002, Domini and CREA led a coalition of investors holding more than 500,000 shares of P&G in a dialogue with the company about purchasing Fair Trade coffee. In April 2003, the shareholder coalition filed with Procter & Gamble the first-ever shareholder resolution to address the coffee crisis.

Meanwhile, Co-op America, the Interfaith Fair Trade Initiative, Oxfam, and Global Exchange all educated and encouraged concerned citizens to urge the company to begin selling Fair Trade Certified coffee.

Shareholders and NGOs cautioned that they will hold Procter & Gamble to its promises and continue to monitor its progress. "We're glad that Procter & Gamble is making this first-step commitment to Fair Trade, and look forward to the day when it commits to paying farmers a decent price for all its coffee—like the coffee companies that pioneered Fair Trade," said Sarah Ford of the Interfaith Fair Trade Initiative.

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Why I Like My Dentist

I reached my dentist's at 7.30am this morning in a haze of urgency. As I settled down in the chair it struck me. I was there for my first ever filling.

When I first went to Dr. Maryniuk, his office was just a block away from my condo. I've kept going to him as we've both moved around the Boston area. I now travel one hour from Davis Square, Somerville, to Coolidge Corner, Brookline, for a cleaning. There are a couple of reasons for this.

Dr. Maryniuk is a gentle dentist. First, he numbed my gum with a little topical anaesthetic. That meant I didn't even feel the further injection.

He also radiates humor and warmth.

"How much do you want to know about what's happening?" he asked.

"Tell me everything," I said out of curiosity.

For the curious, Dr. Maryniuk will use x-rays and cameras to show you exactly what he's up to in your mouth. He clearly loves new technology. However he uses it to make his procedures easier, better and more transparent for patients.

After the procedure, he showed me pictures of my tooth before and after my filling. That was when I had an idea.

"Would you email me the photographs?" I inquired. A new blog entry was born.

BEFORE: Note the spot of decay in the center of the tooth



AFTER: All filled and clean!


(And if you find these pictures gross, you should be glad I started my blog one month after my appendectomy.)

If you live in the Boston area, I highly recommend Dr. Maryniuk for all your dental needs. You will find him on Harvard Street in Brookline, close to Coolidge Corner.

Email me if you can't find his phone number.

Amusing Pet Signs

My new neighborhood - Davis Square in Somerville - has a myriad of charms. One of my favorites is this sign in both English and Canine. (It's the third one down.)