A Hurt Unhealed

Rick Green, Hartford Courant

September 12 2006

I began with Richard M. Keane and finished with Paul Curioli, following 152 names carved in stone atop a grassy altar overlooking Long Island Sound.

Nearby, a man sat quietly sobbing on a granite bench. A sister placed a framed picture of her brother between two small American flags. A brother-in-law gazed off to the south, toward Manhattan, and smoked a cigar in honor of a lost loved one.

Five years to the moment after the first plane hit, there are just a handful of us out this Monday morning at Connecticut's 9/11 memorial at Sherwood Island state park in Westport.

Visitors sit or stand silently, as if to respect a sign that reminds them that this is "an intimate place in a public setting."

The names of the dead - those who lived in Connecticut and others with family ties here - are engraved on rows of small stone tiles that line the memorial. There were no ceremonies Monday, only the music of the wind and waves from the Sound.

"I'll never work on Sept. 11," said the man on the bench, a Manhattan lawyer who was in the city that morning in 2001. "I didn't know anyone that died. Still, it hits home with me."

A small votive candle burned by the name of Joseph A. Lenihan, who grew up in West Hartford and worked in the south tower.

"I decided to come here today because it is more private," Lenihan's brother-in-law, David Smith, of West Hartford, said. He wore a red "United We Stand" cap and told me about the sad years since Sept. 11.

This place, he said, "is a very peaceful retreat."

I walked on. There was a bouquet with a pink ribbon by the name of Margaret Connor and a more formal flower arrangement by Jeffrey D. Bittner's stone. Around Stephen P. Cherry's name, pebbles made the shape of a heart.

Someone placed a Curious George trading card next to James Matthew Patrick. Alongside Eamon McEneaney, a small button asked all to "Celebrate Eamon." A colorful collection of sea glass decorated Scott O'Brien's name.

A woman with a stroller gently left a single red rose. All around there were fading yellow roses - left at an official ceremony last week - and growing piles of fresh flowers, sometimes from people who stayed only briefly.

I came to a framed picture of a smiling Michael John Simon, flanked by two small flags.

"It's my brother," said Christine Coats, of Greenwich. She comes with her two children each anniversary, and starting at 8:46, they just sit.

"We did the big things [at ground zero] but this is private and it's quiet," Coats told me. "You don't have to say anything. People are feeling the same thing."

Bob Abbate sat silently for an hour before he got up to leave.

"For weeks I'm wondering what I'd do today," said Abbate, of Trumbull. "I just couldn't see marking the anniversary sitting at my desk."

Dwight Nelson told me he comes with his wife and two young daughters to "set up a routine" that honors 9/11.

There was one more, an older woman I can't get out of my mind because I couldn't bring myself to approach her. Her grief and pain seemed too urgent to interrupt in this private, public place.

She straightened a tiny Israeli flag flying over Joel Miller's stone. She kissed her fingers, rubbed the engraved words and placed a small rock beside Miller's name.

Like images of jet planes crashing into the towers, it is painful to watch. She soon walked away, her arms clutching her sides, as if it all still hurt too much to do anything more.

Rick Green's column appears on Tuesdays and Fridays. He can be reached at rgreen@courant.com
Copyright 2006, Hartford Courant

http://www.courant.com/news/local/columnists/hc-rgreen0912.art.artsep12,0,81937.column?coll=hc-utility-home

Connecticut's September 11th Memorial

I spent part of the morning of September 11, 2006 at Connecticut's beautiful September 11th memorial. The memorial is on the shore of Long Island Sound at Sherwood Island State Park in Westport. I just couldn't think of observing the 5th anniversary of that horrible day while sitting behind my desk.

Avoid Ad-Speak at All Costs!

Thanks to Roy Williams for this one...

Avoiding Ad-Speak

Contrary to popular belief, Americans don't hate advertising.

We just hate ads that sound like ads.

Do your ads sound like ads? Are you guilty of Ad-speak?

Ad-speak is filled with polished words and filtered phrases that deliver no information and have no relevance. Ambiguous claims give Ad-speak a hollow sound.

Do your ads mention your superior service, your friendly staff, or name the number of years you've been in business?

Let me know how that works out for you.

A meaningless statement remains meaningless no matter how often it's heard. Repetition has become a blunt instrument. Top of Mind Awareness isn't enough anymore. Today's customer expects meaningful information and lots of details.

Have you heard of this new thing called the internet? It's giving people new expectations. It's allowing them to become their own expert. Knowledge lies anxious at their fingertips. Gloss over the truth in your advertising and you'll quickly be dismissed as a poser.

I apologize if that last paragraph seemed hateful or rude, but the truth is I'm exhausted, bone-weary from wrestling with advertisers who have no real message and want to compensate for it by "targeting the right customer."

Writing good ads is easy when you have something to say. Do you have something to say? Something we don't already know? Something that matters?

We're only 8 months into it, but 2006 has already marked itself as a pivotal year, a year we'll never forget. With ever-increasing frequency, we're seeing ad campaigns stumble and fail because they carry no real news to the customer.

But advertisers whose ads brim with things that matter are enjoying record growth.

Time is currency. Information is power.

Don't ask the public to give you their time and and then give them nothing in return. Pay them for their time by giving them relevant information in your ads.

The future of your business depends on it.

As we approach the 5th anniversary...

Bob and Bob Sr. Featured in Article in Connecticut Post

Father knows best
Readers share their dad's word of wisdom
AMANDA CUDA acuda@ctpost.com
June 18, 2006 (Father's Day)

Do good. It's a simple phrase, consisting of only two words. On the surface, it may seem like nothing more than just a gentle admonishment to approach life with the best you have to offer.

But to Bob Abbate, 51, of Trumbull, these words were heard so often on the lips of his dad that they became a kind of family motto. His father, also named Bob Abbate is 79 and lives in Baiting Hollow, N.Y.

Throughout the years, dad was constantly advising Abbate and his sister to "do good," whether talking about work, school, social situations or anything else. The younger Bob Abbate said the words of wisdom originate from his dad's own desire to excel at everything he did.

His dad worked making furniture and "when he would build something, he'd take three times as long as anybody else, because he's such a perfectionist," Abbate said. "His philosophy is 'If you're going to do something in life, be the best you can be.' "

Dad still offers this bit of wisdom, said his son, and the family still listens.

"It's taken on a life of its own, he's been saying it for so long," Abbate said.

The Coast Hits The Coast

Bye, bye oldies. at 10pm last night, less than a year after the demise of legendary New York oldies outlet WCBS-FM, Connecticut's Fairfield County lost one radio station and gained another. Cox pulled the plug on oldies Kool 96.7 and launched 96.7 The Coast.

With the slogan "Fairfield County's Greatest Hits", The Coast claims to be born of "micro-targeted research" that showed a programming hole in the Fairfield County marketplace. Cox claims that this research was conducted in the gold coast towns of Greenwich, Stamford, New Canaan, Darien, Norwalk, Westport, Weston and Wilton.

On my drive back to the office today, I heard Earth, Wind and Fire, The Bee Gees, Todd Rundgren, Otis Redding, Eric Clapton, Tommy James and the Shondells, and The Four Seasons. Clearly, The Coast didn't toss their oldies library into the dumpster, and is trying hard not to alienate their remaining Kool listeners while adding enough classic hits to win over listeners from WEBE-108, Lite-FM, Jack, and even some from Cox-cousin Star 99.9.

The Coast is starting off with lots of music, a minimun number of commercials, and no air personalities. We're told that an air staff will be added, but talk will be kept to a minimum.

By superserving Fairfield County's gold coast with "micro-targeted" music, and local news, weather, and traffic, 96.7 The Coast should garner a larger audience than it's predecessor did, and will offer the listening public with another easy to listen to choice.

Check out the live stream at http://www.967thecoast.com

Daily Newspapers Will Survive - Commentary

My daughter rushes home from school each day and races to the mailbox, hoping to find that the mailman (er, postal carrier) has delivered yet another acceptance letter from one of the 4 universities she is still waiting to be accepted to. She is a budding journalist, with dreams of some day assuming the role of Editor of a major magazine or newspaper. This commentary from UCONN's Daily Campus made me think about the student who penned it, wondering in the back of his/her mind if there will be any newspapers left to employ him upon graduation.

Daily Newspapers Will Survive - Commentary

Hartford: It really doesn't suck all that much

from AdWeek's Adfreak blog...

Since we’re on the topic of tourism slogans, let’s ponder this rallying cry for Hartford, Connecticut: “Come to Hartford. I swear, it’s fun.” A ringing endorsement bordering on the pathetic, the words were first uttered by one Lyndsay Stephenson in an article on Hartford’s supposed resurgence in a January New York Times piece. Now they grace a billboard along the southbound side of Rte. 91. While not the official city slogan (that would be the nowhere-to-go-but-up themed “Hartford. New England’s Rising Star”), “I swear, it’s fun” still has a peculiar appeal as one of the few statements made in tourism marketing that’s actually honest.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

This has absolutely nothing to do with advertising or branding or business at all. I'm a huge Beatles fan, as well as an old hippie who still thinks Clapton is God. I just came across this old video, and just had to include it on my blog. George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Elton John, Phil Collins, Jeff Lynne, all on one stage. Talk about marketing synergy! Enjoy.