Romeo and Juliet, safely wed

I’ve seen more theater in the past couple weeks than I have in ten years, thanks to being a photographer for the Capital Fringe Festival. My mission is to go and take pictures of the performances. While I’m focused on my job, it’s hard not to be moved, one way or another, by what I see. Sometimes, I’ve forgotten to hit the shutter because I’ve been laughing so hard.

These are the Fringe shows that I’ve really enjoyed.

Romeo and Juliet: Choose Your Own Ending
This got a great review in the Washington Post – and for good reason. The young cast performs their own version of this classic play with gusto. Plus, you can the tragedy into comedy. At various points during the performance, Romeo turns to the audience and asks what he should do. Should he pursue Juliet or Rosaline? There are eight possible endings to the play. The night I saw it, Romeo and Juliet ended up alive and married. One drawback: the venue for the play is a steamy one but you’ll probably forget the heat.

Ridgefield Middle School Talent Nite
A hilarious show, filled with delightfully gawky characters, performed by just two actors. They manage to capture all the torture and discomfort of perhaps the worst talent show you’ve ever seen. Like a true Fringe performance, the audience is drawn into the performance, clapping for the different talents and even singing and participating in the production.

(Snap)shots on a Greyhound Headed Home
I’m not a big fan of modern dance but this is a very sexy and intimate show, performed in one of Fringe’s smallest venues. It’s beautifully done and tells a sad and romantic story.

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I’ve been busy for the past couple weeks as an official photographer for the Capital Fringe Festival. It’s been a great experience, giving me the chance to use my new camera, the Canon Rebel T2i, and the opportunity to take pictures of performers, which I really enjoy.

And I’ve gotten to see a lot of theater in tiny spaces, where you’re inches away from the actors – that’s part of what makes Fringe so special. From women in passionate embrace to remixed Shakespeare, it’s an intimate experience that can be uncomfortable, strange or delightful, depending on the performance. Sometimes you just can’t look away, try as you might.

But Fringe is more than just theater. It aims to create community in DC, striving to be a citywide celebration of the arts. Fringe wants everyone to be involved.

For people interested in creativity, it’s hard not to be drawn into the Fringe orbit. For example, I attended a discussion on Does Art Matter as a photographer but ended up writing about the workshop for the Pink Line Project.

The Capital Fringe Festival runs until July 25 in Washington, DC.

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I finally had a chance to read the Creative DC Action Agenda. The report, commissioned by DC Office of Planning in partnership with the Washington, DC Economic Partnership, does a really good job at highlighting the role that the creative industries have in making DC a vibrant and fascinating city.  There’s some really interesting tidbits contained in the report, such as:

• Creative jobs amount to more than 10 percent of the city’s employment base and generate $5 billion in income.
• There are more than 75,000 creative jobs in the city, including 16,000 federal government positions.
• With 69 theaters producing 8,723 performances in 2008, DC is now among the top tier of theater cities in the U.S.
• DC was ranked fourth in the nation for the concentration of artistic talent, behind Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco.
• The average wage for creative occupations in DC is $33.73 per hour.

The definition of creative occupations is fairly broad, and includes people in the culinary arts and even libraries.  However, DC has a fairly high concentration of writers and visual artists, as well.  This creative community adds to the city’s tax coffers and attracts newcomers to Washington.

Washington has come a long way since the municipal dysfunction of the 1990s. But there’s much that the city can do to empower the artistic community in DC, including:

• Identify vacant spaces for theater and work spaces.
• Increase visitor awareness of the creative arts beyond the Mall.
• Improve access to funding for filmmakers.
• Cut the red tape that makes DC unfriendly to small business.

As a member of the “creative occupations” myself, it’s really interesting to see the big picture.  What do I think should be done?  The last point on cutting red tape really resonates with me. DC should cut regulations that inhibit small businesses and artists in the city.  There are so many confusing city rules about running a business from home that I’m not sure what’s legal.  And everyone I know who tries to create some sort of festival or event encounters a thicket of regulations and forms, requiring countless trips to city offices.  It seems crazy in 2010 that dealing with the city requires filling out reports by hand and collecting stamps and signatures.  Eliminating this old-fashioned paperwork (or at least putting it online) would further encourage the ongoing creative renaissance of this city.

DC should capitalize on the creative talent drawn here by reducing the burden of regulation. As demonstrated in the Creative DC Action Agenda, a liberated “artist-entrepreneur” community would deliver economic benefits citywide.

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Fringe is fun. I went to the preview of the Capital Fringe Festival last week. I got to see sneak peeks of upcoming shows while enjoying my favorite beer (Bell’s Two-Hearted) all under the big tent of Fort Fringe. Singing Austrians, half-naked women, magic acts, rowdy bands – it was all there.

It’s hugely inspiring to be around so many fearless, creative people who have brought their visions to the stage. Plus, the festival is put on by my good friend Julianne Brienza, who I interviewed last year for the Pink Line Project.

The Capital Fringe Festival runs from June 8-25 across Washington. The shows are numerous and fast-paced so you’re bound to find something you’ll like. It’s not your typical theater experience.

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What do fire dancers have to do with technology?  Attendees at the opening night party of DC Week had a chance to find out.  Digital Capital Week (DCWEEK) is a 10 day festival in Washington, DC focused on technology, innovation and all things digital in our nation’s capital. DCWEEK takes place in venues throughout Washington and runs from June 11th to June 20th, 2010.  The mission of DCWEEK is to strengthen the capital region’s digital economy via a ten day series of events focused on creativity, technology, entrepreneurship, marketing, content creation and innovation.

The week began with a party in Blagden Alley that brought together the worlds of art and technology.  Web developers, social media experts, writers, transparency advocates, government geeks, photographers and venture capitalists were inspired by bands, video displays, free beer and women twirling flaming hula hoops.  Set in a historic downtown alley, the party was a casual and creative affair where you could meet some of the brightest minds in DC.

But that was just the start.  DCWEEK continued over the weekend with CityCamp, an “unconference” that brought together local government officials and technologists, with the aim of building a better District of Columbia.

All week long, this festival of innovation continues with workshops on gaming, accessibility, communications, media relations and much more.  And since it’s not your normal conference, DCWEEK also includes happy hours, tweetups, a “schmooze cruise”, a flash picnic on the Mall and even a social media comedy show.

DCWEEK demonstrates that tech doesn’t have to be boring.  After seeing someone twirl fire, how could you not be inspired to try something new?

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Recently, I was interviewed by a reporter from U.S. News and World Report for an article on mini-retirements. What’s a mini-retirement? It’s like a sabbatical, taking time off to pursue other interests.

The reporter found me from a post I had written about the subject, in which I discussed how I had taken time off to pursue my creative interests, including writing screenplays and a novel.

People are fascinated by the concept of mini-retirements – it’s one of the most popular search terms leading to my site. Everyone has the dream to escape office life, at least for a little while.

For those contemplating a mini-retirement, here’s my advice:

1. Have a purpose. Travel the world, learn a language, pick up a new skill, write a book, volunteer for a worthy cause – do something that matters with your time off. Time without purpose is meaningless. Invest your time in something that matters to you and the world. When you’re done, you want to have something to show for the experience, an accomplishment that you can point to.

2. Have a schedule. What are you going to do on your first day off? And the day after that? A schedule doesn’t have to be written in stone but you should have a general idea of how you will spend your time. For example, when I wrote Murder in Ocean Hall, I worked 9-5, mimicking the schedule that I was used to, though with many more breaks, including an afternoon nap

3. Have an end date. So, you want to retire for a bit from the workforce to pursue your own goals. How long will this take you? When do you plan on finding a job again?

4. Prepare for the worst. Keep your health insurance. Save up twice as much money as you think you will need. Have a Plan B and C in case things don’t work out. Once you’re done with your mini-retirement, finding a job may take much longer than anticipated. Your assumptions may prove wrong so it’s best to have a wide safety net.

5. Be willing to live with the consequences. Dropping out of the workforce may hurt your career, will certainly harm your finances, may lead to family stress, might cause your friends to question your sanity. You could end up broke or close to it. Are you willing to accept this as the possible consequences of your decision? Imagine the worst-case scenario. Is this something you’re willing to risk?

By developing new skills and pursuing personal goals, mini-retirements can lead to new opportunities opening up, in careers and fields you had never considered before. But it’s important to plan thoroughly before making the leap into the unknown.

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Highly subjective, of course, but what’s the best content management system that you’ve used? I think that the best CMS is the one that gets out of the way, that allows anyone to easily write content for the web site. Someone should not have to learn HTML, or how servers operate, or spend days in training just to add a press release.

I’ve had the fortune/misfortune to work in multiple CMSes. Here are my impressions:

WordPress – Maybe not technically a CMS but so simple to use. WYSIWYG window, you click publish, that’s about it. I use it for my personal site, joeflood.com and also used it for a blog while I was at NOAA. I literally trained people in how to add content to the blog in fifteen minutes. My favorite. This is ideal for people looking for a simple platform to blog.

Google Sites – Again, maybe not exactly a CMS. Limited functionality but perfect for groups that just want to publish content. It’s very dumbed-down but it’s simplicity and lack of features makes it ideal for a no-fuss intranet.

Zope – I used this at the Nature Conservancy. At the time, I wasn’t a huge fan but, after exposure to much more complicated CMSes, it was better than I thought. Almost as easy as WordPress but key functions were locked down. Also, developers were needed for any design changes or to periodically reset it when it broke.

Plone – I’ve experimented with this and I like it. A lot of universities seem to use it.

Drupal – I write occasionally for a blog that uses it. I’m not sure about this one – seems slow but that may be just the way the site is set up. Drupal is the hot open-source CMS that everyone wants.

Vignette - Steep learning curve, whole new set of metaphors to learn, puzzling interface. Difficult for even experienced web folks to figure out.

No CMS – After using many CMSes, the simplicity of just HTML is really appealing. I managed NOAA Ocean Explorer which was all done in Dreamweaver. Thought this was crazy at the time. Now, not so sure. If you don’t like rules and don’t mind code, then No CMS is the choice for you.

Like I wrote yesterday, there is no perfect CMS. Consider your needs and choose wisely.

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Vision -> Plan -> Pilot -> Implement -> Maintain

His talk concentrated on the first two steps of this process and the importance in planning before settling on a CMS for your web site.

Vision

In the first step, David asks that you come up with a Vision Statement as a guide to picking the right CMS. What’s your vision for the future? A CMS that will allow editors to easily update the web site while also seamlessly delivering a mobile version to users? Write it down and use it as a guide throughout the process. The vision statement must be a definite improvement on the current state. The switching process is painful. The Vision Statement should concisely explain why it’s worth it.

Plan

Guided by your vision for the future, the next step is develop Use Cases. How do editors, developers and others actually use the web site? What do they want to do in the future? For example, a developer Use Case might talk about the need for cross-platform compatibility, scalability and clean code. An editor might wish for a CMS that allows them to publish to the site instantly. A communications director’s Use Case might include the requirement to approve all content before it goes live or to rollback the site to a previous version. Use Cases are a learning process, to determine the needs of the people who build your web site.

With your Vision Statement and Use Cases, you can then approach vendors (or investigate CMSes yourself) to determine which solution matches up best with your needs. You should evaluate CMSes against your requirements, not what a CMS does best or what a salesman wants to show you.

I think this is a really good approach. To select the best CMS, investigate your organization’s needs in an honest manner and then evaluate the contenders on their suitability.

Don’t be sold on whatever is sexy this year. A CMS is not magic. Not even Drupal.

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You can now order my book, Murder in Ocean Hall. My book is a mystery, set in DC, about the murder of the world’s most famous explorer. He’s killed in the Smithsonian, when the replica of a whale falls on top of him. It’s up to a cynical Washington detective to solve the case.

Murder in Ocean Hall is based in fact, drawn from my experience living in dysfunctional DC, and from working in the field of ocean exploration.

Get this new mystery today, now available in print and Kindle editions.

Murder in Ocean Hall – Print Edition

Murder in Ocean Hall – Kindle Edition

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