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Pride in Energy

June 15, 2016 by Jon Leave a Comment

Kristin and I are allies. We fully support equal rights across the board for members of the LGBTQ community. We’re proud of this fact, and are happy to announce it publicly.

Our hearts go out to everyone affected by the tragedy in Orlando. Without injecting any unneeded politicality into this post, our sincere hope is that out of this horrific incident a better, more caring, and more conscientious culture emerges. We don’t know exactly how that would manifest, but our hope is that we never see an incident like this ever again, and that we take the steps toward that goal.

One of the best things to do, in our estimation, is to seek connectivity where it may not have existed before. With that in mind, I was proud to attend an event last night called Pride in Energy, co-hosted by the Colorado Petroleum Council (the Colorado outpost of the American Petroleum Institute) and One Colorado.

The Colorado Petroleum Council and One Colorado co-hosted Pride in Energy on April 14, 2016 in Denver discussing LGBTQ rights and the oil and gas industry.
The Colorado Petroleum Council and One Colorado co-hosted Pride in Energy on April 14, 2016 in Denver discussing LGBTQ rights and the oil and gas industry.

That’s an aggressively crappy picture of the screen from the event, but I didn’t want to disturb the panel of speakers who told their stories of being in the LGBTQ community (or being an LGBTQ ally) while working in oil and gas. What was so striking about their stories was that to some extent they all experienced the fear of revealing their true selves to their colleagues in an industry that stereotypically values toughness, traditional notions of masculinity, and leans very conservative. Much to their surprise, what they encountered (more often than not) was not anger or disgust, but welcoming and happiness that their colleague whom they liked, felt comfortable enough to fully be themselves. Their coming out stories were inspirational for how – and I don’t want to seem like I’m downplaying the courage it took to do this or the personal significance of the reveal because I’m very much not – pedestrian they were.

Unless you’re a truly and fully narrow-minded, bigoted, and ideologically entrenched psycho (and some do exist), finding out that your friend and colleague is gay (or bisexual or transgendered) shouldn’t be a big deal. In an ideal world, all coming out stories will end with the person receiving the news being nonplussed by it. That would mean we’ve achieved equality and that sexual orientation is no longer A THING. It’s just a thing.

The panel at Pride Energy, co-hosted by the Colorado Petroleum Council and One Colorado on June 14, 2016.
The panel at Pride in Energy, co-hosted by the Colorado Petroleum Council and One Colorado on June 14, 2016.

I’m thrilled that the folks onstage in the photo above are willing to push us in that direction in a space that hasn’t seen much of this type of thing historically. To create real change, it almost always starts with a brave few before you can build critical mass. Those folks above are the brave few, and I’m just happy to play a small role in helping to build critical mass.

As the panel concluded, a question was asked about the future of both LGBTQ rights and the oil and gas industry. I’ll offer my response. Oil and gas issues are almost associated with Republicans. LGBTQ rights issues are almost always associated with Democrats. It’s convenient to think of the world in binary terms. I hate binary. I like complexity. I like creativity. I like unpredictability.

LGBTQ rights and the continued responsible production of American oil and natural gas are two issues that don’t often intersect for us, but are two issues we care deeply about. It’s a thrill to see them come together last night, and I applaud both the Colorado Petroleum Council and One Colorado for making that connection happen through Pride in Energy.

Here’s hoping for more creative connections going forward. For blowing up boring binaries. For increased understanding from people on both sides of any issue. And for the courage to continue pushing our culture forward in new, interesting, and beneficial ways.

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Filed Under: Culture, Denver Tagged With: Colorado, Colorado Petroleum Council, LGBTQ, Oil and Gas, One Colorado, Pride

In Praise of Denver Water

May 5, 2016 by Jon Leave a Comment

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As a resident of Denver’s Park Hill neighborhood, I’ve seen Denver Water crews in my neighborhood the last couple of summers. I’m generally pretty engaged in my community, but never bothered to look into what they were actually doing since their activity never made its way to my street. Not until now, anyway.

And in truth, I never had to. Denver Water beat me to the punch.

As I was out mowing my lawn a couple of weeks ago, I saw a man dressed in standard white collar working attire (dress shirt tucked into khaki chinos) walking up my street knocking on doors and placing a manilla envelope on each doorstep. Since we’re gearing up for campaign season, I figured he was handing out literature for one of the 3,000 ballot measures (approximate) we’ll be voting on in Colorado come November.

I turned off my lawnmower and he introduced himself as a representative from Denver Water. He asked me if I had received their initial letter talking about the project they’re working on this year (I had), and if I had any questions about it (I didn’t). He then gave me an envelope, gave me a brief rundown of what’s happening, told me his business card was inside, and encouraged me to contact him with any questions or concerns. Terrific!

So what’s Denver Water up to?

Between the end of April and the end of August, Denver Water will (taken entirely from the material they gave me in the envelope):

  • Clean and re-line the water main under your street as part of a project called pipe rehabilitation. Crews will drain water mains, clean them by removing mineral buildup from the past 100-plus years, and then line the mains with a specialized mortar to extend their lifespan by decades. See step-by-step photos of the pipe rehabilitation project at http://denverwater.org/PipeRehab.
  • Replace lead water service lines in the project area.

Given that lead water pipes have been in the news recently (and especially due to what appears to be a dereliction of duty from certain municipalities), it’s good to see this is and has been a priority for Denver Water.

The ensuing five pages included in this material discuss what they plan to do, how they’ll do it, how we’ll be impacted, how to manage those impacts, and, again and again, how to get in touch with them should we need to for any reason.

It’s not often as a PR practitioner I encounter proactive, transparent, and repeated outreach on a project of civic importance that affects me directly such as this. And it’s even less frequent that the agency conducting a project with this type of impact receives any praise for their efforts whatsoever.

And that’s why I’m happy to offer a sincere thank you to Denver Water for their efforts to make sure me and my neighbors are well-informed about improvements made to our water and working to ensure the impacts during those improvements are as painless as possible. Here’s to hoping the project goes as well as the outreach!

Filed Under: Deft Touch, Denver, Good stuff

Jon of All Trades at the Denver Film Festival

November 18, 2015 by Jon Leave a Comment

Today the Jon of All Trades Podcast posted its 5th and final interview from this year’s Denver Film Festival.

The Jon of All Trades Podcast, a production of Deft Communications, conducted five interviews at this year's Denver Film Festival.

We were invited by the Festival’s PR team to be one of the official podcasts of this year’s fest, so we picked up our official press credentials two weeks ago, and began working to book interviews with an interesting slate of guests. The PR team at the Festival was incredibly savvy and hard-working, which was helpful in procuring us an incredible series of shows. Check out the 5 interviews we did below:

Ep. 79: Ian Cooke & Ian O’Dougherty

Ian Cooke and Ian O’Dougherty are cello prog pop musicians. We chat about their new album Antiquasauria, how to survive on the road when everyone gets sick, how the music business has changed, and the debut of their new music video “Epilogue.”

Ep. 80: David Beck & Olympia Stone

Subject and director of documentary Curious Worlds, we talk about David’s incredible, intricate art, Olympia’s long history with David, how the documentary came together, and a ton more. Two incredibly talented artists and an insightful, interesting chat.

Ep. 81: Joey Skaggs & Andrea Marini

Joey Skaggs and Andrea Marini are the subject and director of Art of the Prank – the Movie. We talk Joey’s amazing career and history of pranking the media, how this movie came together, and how to improve our cultural media literacy.

Ep. 82: Nathan Silver & Mike Ott

Nathan Silver and Mike Ott are collaborators on the Untitled Denver Project coming out in 2016, and the directors of Stinking Heaven and Lancaster, CA playing at the Denver Film Festival. We have an awesome chat about independent film, funding things through Kickstarter, the frustrations of festivals, and a lot more.

Ep. 83: Zoe Bell & Josh Waller

Josh Waller and Zoe Bell, director and star of the movie Camino, wrap up the week’s coverage. You might know Zoe from her work in Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof, and you’ll see her this winter in the upcoming The Hateful Eight. We talk filming in the jungle, how Josh and Zoe came to know each other, and the weight (or not) of being described as a “badass.” Great way to finish out the week!

A huge thank you to the Denver Film Festival for the invitation and the opportunity. Be sure to check out these episodes – as well as the previous 78 we have posted – on iTunes, Stitcher, or the Jon of All Trades homepage.

Filed Under: Denver, Jon of All Trades Tagged With: #DFF38, Denver Film Festival, Jon of All Trades

Around Town

August 14, 2015 by Jon 3 Comments

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Building on my previous post about becoming one of the “Day People,” and having now worked in a variety of places all over the city, it’s time to build on this concept a bit. I find it uncouth to be some freeloading crotchstain and just show up at a business to use their free wi-fi, so it’s vital that I buy something.

I tried working at the libraries near my house – where it’s fine to be a freeloading crotchstain since you’ve (presumably) already paid your taxes, and thus, have no further commerce pre-requisites to fulfill – but I ran into two problems with this.

  • There are kids EVERYWHERE during the summer, which, even with your headphones in, is distracting because kids move with such unpredictable and different cadence from adults. You can’t not watch kids even if it’s just to see what they do next. They’re mystifying.
  • Thanks either to poor management of resources by our government, the increasing distaste of voters to fund basically anything that even appears extraneous, or some unholy combination of the two; libraries are open at weird, short, and not terribly convenient hours.

[shakes fist at government cronies] [shakes other fist at misguided voter ideology] [remains unsure which fist he should actually engage]

Thus, coffee shops and cafes! What follows is a list of places I’ve gotten work done, and something from there I happen to really like. Important note before we start: I don’t drink coffee – which I realize could get me branded a heretic depending on your level of coffee fetishism – so you won’t find any of it listed here, which will likely influence your enjoyment of this list.

Look, coffee tastes fine and I accept that my Facebook feed is flush with people who believe they can’t live without it, but I neither need the caffeine, nor like the taste THAT much. I also accept that my position is objectively wrong, much like my inability to care about Game of Thrones. So let’s just move on.

Here’s some good stuff from some cool places around town. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Denver, Good stuff Tagged With: Cake Crumbs Bakery, Deft Communications, Denver Bicycle Cafe, Denver PR, Fork & Spoon, Hooked on Colfax, Rooster & Moon, Sugar Bakeshop

Day People

June 30, 2015 by Jon 2 Comments

When you work in a traditional style office for nearly a decade, you get used to a certain rhythm. You wake up at the buttcrack of dawn, put on your business casual clothes, pile into the car, fight traffic to whatever extent your commute dictates, arrive at the office, and then you don’t leave until it’s time to head back home (save for maybe during lunch, which I rarely took outside for 2 main reasons: 1) I’m cheap as hell when it comes to spending on myself; and 2) I preferred to eat at my desk while I caught up on my reading so I could go the hell home earlier). Then you fight traffic again and your night unfolds however it unfolds before you pass out and do it again.

rooster and moon

Now that I have a schedule that is necessarily different every day and have no office to which I’m required to report, I’ve seen the world in a brand new way. And I’m proud to share that day people are a strange lot.

I used to see them sometimes on the 16th Street Mall Shuttle – these people who didn’t seem to be beholden to the grind of corporate filing cabinet servitude – and I’d wonder what they did.

What are you doing just… OUT like this? Aren’t you worried about people walking by your office and seeing an empty chair?

I realize just how myopic and solipsistic this is – everyone’s life is not your life, Jon – but the safety of routine breeds this type of thinking, which is why it’s been so refreshing to experience the world in a different way. I see more than the standard array of upper-middle class white people dressed in Dockers and collared shirts having the exact same types of conversations about the exact same things.

When I work at any of a half dozen coffee shops in the downtown area, there are entrepreneurs like me, grad students working on long papers, burned out hippies, stay-at-home moms in yoga pants, hungover stand-up comics, trustafarians, and, yes, office folks absconding for a few precious moments, all flitting in and out.

What’s really fun is seeing a coffee house conduct its business during off-hours. Sales reps bounce in and out. Things are restocked, machines cleaned, supplies re-organized, sidebars between staff members add flavor to the ambient noise of the place. It’s fun getting to peek behind the curtain, which I suppose is a fitting joy for someone with a podcast such as mine.

The best part of working for myself is setting my own hours. There are times where I’m out and about handling my life at a time when I would have normally been at my desk being perhaps productive (although productivity sometimes felt secondary to being merely present, which is true of many office cultures, and also absurd), and the fact that I’m out feels very transgressive.

Ooooohhhhh, I’m not supposed to be out now. Look at me! I’m a bad boy!

What’s most amazing is that it seems like I should have more consternation about what is ultimately the counterpoint to the joys of making your own schedule: you end up working weird hours. For instance, earlier this week I sent draft copy to a client at 9:30 at night. I traded emails with a prospective client right when I woke up at 6 am on another day. You’d think I’d be fretting about this, but I don’t.

I’m one of the “day people” now. I work when I need to, whenever that happens to be. And I’d love for you to come join me while I’m out and about. Hit me up anytime.

Filed Under: Denver, Self-Employment Tagged With: Day People, Deft Communication, Denver PR, Self-Employment

Turn Signals

June 4, 2015 by Jon Leave a Comment

You know how there are people in your life who curate incredibly enjoyable Facebook feeds that shine like a bright star amidst the endless, interminable night sky of vaguebooking, inane quizzing and esoteric complaining? I have one such friend who posts updates about his mélange of projects which include his work as a home vintner, carpenter and chef alongside photos of ski outings and travel and occasional viral content that’s actually fun and interesting. He’s a fascinating guy, and his Facebook feed is appropriately representative of that.

He recently posted this update and photo:

“Having just come back from driving in Denver…this is so true”

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I also recently had a different friend in town from the East Coast. She too complained about the drivers in Denver, and justifiably so. Having traveled extensively, I feel confident in saying Denver drivers are, when graded as a group, generally pretty terrible. I have not traveled anywhere where people stop on entrance ramps to the highway with as much frequency as they do in my fair city. Any time someone does this, I feel like my head’s going to explode because not only is this hilariously counter-intuitive, it is grotesquely unsafe.

With regard to the turn signal thing, my East Coast friend drove us to a brewery (where else, given my disposition?) and tried to merge into the left lane. She threw the blinker on, and like Denver clockwork, the person behind her sped up to prevent the merge. She exclaimed, “Why? I’ve got the signal on. I’m trying to be a good citizen!” All I could say was, “That’s Denver driving for you.”

And that’s where these two disparate people meet. One recognizes that Denver drivers don’t ever use turn signals, the other wonders why. Very simply, people in this town don’t use their blinkers because if you do, you’re pretty much guaranteed never to get that merge you need.

Some misguided dope behind you will think you’re in a race you had no idea you were a part of, and speed up to prevent you from beating them to whatever arbitrary finish line they’ve concocted in their minds. So you learn to adjust. And adjusting, sadly, means you’re frequently better off without your turn signal if you have any lane changing aspirations whatsoever.

To be clear, I abhor this philosophy and believe the world would be roughly 18% better if everyone used proper turn signal protocol at all times, but still. I got places to be, too.

Filed Under: Denver Tagged With: Deft Communications, Denver driving, Denver PR, Turn signals

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