Dear Friend,

I know that time is precious for everyone, so I’ll try to keep this update short. The approximate reading time is about 5 minutes. Further down, there’s some repetition of announcements from last month for those who’ve just joined the list.

Media Requests. We continue to be contacted by journalists who want to interview small housers. Here are some current requests.

• Media Request: National Magazine Seeks Small Housers for Article on Small Living
• Media Request: New York Area Television Producer Seeks Small Housers for TV Episode on Small Living
• Media Request: Los Angeles Area Journalist Seeks Small Housers
• Media Request: Washington D.C. Area Journalist Seeks Small Housers

Small House Movement Articles. Here are some of the recent small house movement articles.

• Division 43 by DR Horton – Sustainable and Walkable Small New Urbanism Community in Portland, Oregon
• Peter King Workshop: How to Build a Small Wood Frame House
• Small House Movement – ABC Radio News Canberra Australia – Interview with Greg Johnson – 10 September 2011
• Small House Living Questions and Answers

Shop, Support, Repeat. Please visit our site and click the Amazon logo in the right column to shop and have a portion of the profits support our work. Thanks!

Advertising and Store. The advertising on our site, and the merchant partners in our store help raise funds to pay for our operations. So, for example, the next time you go shopping on Amazon, for no extra cost to you, if you’d click our link to Amazon, your purchases generate revenue for us.

Tumbleweed Tiny House Company. If you’ve not visited the TumbleweedHouses.com website recently, you should really take a look. It’s recently been renovated and has a beautiful new design.

Facebook Page. The Small House Society Facebook Page currently has 1,728 members (up from 1,515 last month). If you’ve not yet done so, please visit the Small House Society Facebook Page and click Like to connect with us there. I’ve been really impressed with how quickly people have joined our Facebook presence. In a few months we’ve seen as much growth as 9 years on Yahoo Groups.

Yahoo Group. The Small House Society Yahoo Group continues to be quite active after about 9 years. For those who prefer a venue other than Facebook, you might want to consider it as a way to connect with other small living people.

Updated Directory of Designers and Builders. One of the most frequent requests we get is from people seeking small home designers and builders. In January I finished updating our directory of small home designers and builders to include the city and state to make it easier for journalists and potential customers to find local small home contacts.

Thanks. I want to thank the global team of volunteers and contributors “behind the scenes” who help make all this possible. I’m very grateful to the many people who continue to uphold and advance the mission of the Small House Society. Thanks again for your support. Please let me know if there is any way that the Small House Society can serve you better.

Regards,
Gregory Johnson, Facilitator, President, Co-Founder
Small House Society

Internet: http://www.smallhousesociety.org
E-Mail: shs @ resourcesforlife.com (without spaces)
Postal: c/o Resources for Life, PO Box 2717, Iowa City, IA 52244-2717
Phone: (319) 621-4911
Subscribe. Enter your email address below and click the Join Now button to be notified when the latest Small House Society newsletter is available.

Dear Friend,

I know that time is precious for everyone, so I’ll try to keep this update short. The approximate reading time is about 5 minutes. Toward the bottom, there’s some repetition of announcements from last month for those who’ve just joined the list.

Tumbleweed Tiny House Company. If you’ve not visited theTumbleweedHouses.com website recently, you should really take a look. It’s recently been renovated and has a beautiful new design.

In The News. We’re entering our 10th year, and I know it seems like a long haul for those of you who’ve been with us from the beginning, but there’s much more to come. Just when we thought that everyone had heard our message, we have yet another journalist or reporter contacting us to tell the story again, to thousands more people. You can visit our media page to see some of the recent reports that have featured the Small House Society.

Facebook Page. The Small House Society Facebook Page currently has 1,515 members (up from 1,405 last month). If you’ve not yet done so, please visit the Small House Society Facebook Page and click Like to connect with us there. I’ve been really impressed with how quickly people have joined our Facebook presence. In a few months we’ve seen as much growth as 9 years on Yahoo Groups.

Yahoo Group. The Small House Society Yahoo Group continues to be quite active after about 9 years. For those who prefer a venue other than Facebook, you might want to consider it as a way to connect with other small living people.

Updated Directory of Designers and Builders. One of the most frequent requests we get is from people seeking small home designers and builders. In January I finished updating our directory of small home designers and builders to include the city and state to make it easier for journalists and potential customers to find local small home contacts.

Thanks. I want to thank the global team of volunteers and contributors “behind the scenes” who help make all this possible. I’m very grateful to the many people who continue to uphold and advance the mission of the Small House Society. Thanks again for your support. Please let me know if there is any way that the Small House Society can serve you better.

Regards,
Gregory Johnson, Facilitator, President, Co-Founder
Small House Society

Internet: http://www.smallhousesociety.org
E-Mail: shs @ resourcesforlife.com (without spaces)
Postal: c/o Resources for Life, PO Box 2717, Iowa City, IA 52244-2717
Phone: (319) 621-4911
Subscribe. Enter your email address below and click the Join Now button to be notified when the latest Small House Society newsletter is available.

Dear Friend,

I know that time is precious for everyone, so I’ll try to keep this update short. The approximate reading time is about 5 minutes. Toward the bottom, there’s some repetition of announcements from last month for those who’ve just joined the list.

In The News. We’re entering our 10th year, and I know it seems like a long haul for those of you who’ve been with us from the beginning, but there’s much more to come. Just when we thought that everyone had heard our message, we get yet another journalist or reporter contacting us to tell the story again, to thousands more people. Here are some of the recent reports that have featured the Small House Society:

• The New Yorker – “Let’s Get Small – The Rise of the Tiny-House Movement”
• AARP Video Interview with Jay Shafer
• AARP Radio Interview about the Small House Movement
• RadioColoradoCollege.org – Tiny Homes Take Hold

Facebook Page. The Small House Society Facebook Page currently has 1,405 members (up from 1,315 last month). If you’ve not yet done so, please visit the Small House Society Facebook Page and click Like to connect with us there. I’ve been really impressed with how quickly people have joined our Facebook presence. In a few months we’ve seen as much growth as 9 years on Yahoo Groups.

Yahoo Group. The Small House Society Yahoo Group continues to be quite active after about 9 years. For those who prefer a venue other than Facebook, you might want to consider it as a way to connect with other small living people.

Updated Directory of Designers and Builders. One of the most frequent requests we get is from people seeking small home designers and builders. In January I finished updating our directory of small home designers and builders to include the city and state to make it easier for journalists and potential customers to find local small home contacts.

Thanks. I want to thank the global team of volunteers and contributors “behind the scenes” who help make all this possible. I’m very grateful to the many people who continue to uphold and advance the mission of the Small House Society. Thanks again for your support. Please let me know if there is any way that the Small House Society can serve you better.

Regards,
Gregory Johnson, Facilitator, President, Co-Founder
Small House Society

Internet: http://www.smallhousesociety.org
E-Mail: shs @ resourcesforlife.com (without spaces)
Postal: c/o Resources for Life, PO Box 2717, Iowa City, IA 52244-2717
Phone: (319) 621-4911
Subscribe. Enter your email address below and click the Join Now button to be notified when the latest Small House Society newsletter is available.

Summary. When a non-profit organization engages in social action, we think of it as activism. When a business engages with society through advertising, we simply call it marketing. Yet, activists exist in all areas of society including companies and they are leveraging their positions to impact the world in positive ways.

Among the leadership of Liberty Mutual there apparently are some people who had the brilliant idea of using advertising as a carrier signal for delivering a positive social message. For example, in radio broadcasting, it’s possible to send an HD FM radio signal with music that also includes embedded data that can provide information about the current song such as artist and song title. In the same way, advertising can tell the public about a product or service, while at the same time conveying a message that is designed to have a positive impact on society.

The Responsibility Project. Liberty Mutual has launched an initiative called The Responsibility Project. Below are videos from their advertising campaign about living responsibly. The general theme is that people who see acts of kindness, generosity, caring, giving, and responsibility, will feel compelled to do the same. What’s really powerful about this advertising campaign is that it offers an almost documentary presentation of the world from a God’s-eye-viewproint in showing how kindness can spread quickly. It’s alarming to realize that stress and unpleasantness can spread just as quickly. The multiplayer effect depicted in these videos demonstrates the impact that each person has in the world.

Summary. To be most effective, advertising must be engaging, entertaining, interesting, and inspiring.

The Québec City and Area Tourism Department recently produced a spectacular high definition video with areal flyovers and panoramic vistas combined with an uplifting music score. It’s possibly one of the most impressive tourism videos ever produced.

Summary. Nuru is an organization working to end extreme poverty by empowering people with tools, education, and other resources that help permanently improve their standard of living.

One aspect of Nuru that is uniquely innovative and inspiring is the story behind how it was founded. Nuru was founded by Jake Harriman, an ex-Marine platoon commander who, after 7 years of military service around the world, observed a strong connection between poverty and the increase in world terrorism and war. Nuru was birthed out of Jake’s desire to do something to end the poverty that feeds terrorism.

We wrote an article about Nuru last year, and wanted to provide you with this video update.

Summary. The song What About Now by Daughtry has been hugely popular for it’s inspirational and motivational message about making a difference in the world.

At a time when the world is in crisis on a large-scale level as well as down to the individual level, this video paints a picture of the challenges we face, yet it also presents hopeful solutions and images of people who are making a difference in the world.

Video. The music video (below) has had over 3 million views. Use the volume control as needed to adjust the sound level. You can click the [x] in the upper right corner of the advertisement in the video to close it and move it out of the way.

Lyrics. Below are the lyrics to What About Now by Daughtry.

Shadows fill an empty heart
As love is fading,
From all the things that we are
But are not saying.
Can we see beyond the stars
And make it to the dawn?

Change the colors of the sky.
And open up to
The ways you made me feel alive,
The ways I loved you.
For all the things that never died,
To make it through the night,
Love will find you.

What about now?
What about today?
What if you’re making me all that I was meant to be?
What if our love never went away?
What if it’s lost behind words we could never find?
Baby, before it’s too late,
What about now?

The sun is breaking in your eyes
To start a new day.
This broken heart can still survive
With a touch of your grace.
Shadows fade into the light.
I am by your side,
Where love will find you.

What about now?
What about today?
What if you’re making me all that I was meant to be?
What if our love, it never went away?
What if it’s lost behind words we could never find?
Baby, before it’s too late,
What about now?

Now that we’re here,
Now that we’ve come this far,
Just hold on.
There is nothing to fear,
For I am right beside you.
For all my life,
I am yours.

What about now?
What about today?
What if you’re making me all that I was meant to be?
What if our love never went away?
What if it’s lost behind words we could never find?

What about now?
What about today?
What if you’re making me all that I was meant to be?
What if our love never went away?
What if it’s lost behind words we could never find?
Baby, before it’s too late,
Baby, before it’s too late,
Baby, before it’s too late,
What about now?

Summary. The song How to Save a Life by The Fray was influenced by band member Isaac Slade who worked as a mentor at a camp for troubled teens. The song was the title song for the album How to Save a Life.

The song has sold over two million downloads. The music video of the song (below) has been viewed over 10 million times. It is one of the fifth longest charting singles on the Billboard Hot 100, at 58 consecutive weeks.

Music Video. The music video of the song (below) shows images and videos of troubled youth combined with words and other images that convey how delicate life is. The green caterpillar shown here on the piano keyboard is juxtaposed to the image of a butterfly elsewhere in the video. You can click the [x] in the upper right corner of the advertisement in the video to close it and move it out of the way.

Lyrics. Below are the lyrics to How to Save a Life by The Fray.

Step one you say we need to talk
He walks you say sit down it’s just a talk
He smiles politely back at you
You stare politely right on through
Some sort of window to your right
As he goes left and you stay right
Between the lines of fear and blame
You begin to wonder why you came

CHORUS:
Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life

Let him know that you know best
Cause after all you do know best
Try to slip past his defense
Without granting innocence
Lay down a list of what is wrong
The things you’ve told him all along
And pray to God he hears you
And pray to God he hears you

CHORUS:
Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life

As he begins to raise his voice
You lower yours and grant him one last choice
Drive until you lose the road
Or break with the ones you’ve followed
He will do one of two things
He will admit to everything
Or he’ll say he’s just not the same
And you’ll begin to wonder why you came

CHORUS:
Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life

CHORUS:
Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life
How to save a life
How to save a life

CHORUS:
Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life

CHORUS:
Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life
How to save a life

Summary. The music video Some People Change by Montgomery Gentry is an inspirational video about how people can turn their lives around.

One examples given in the video is of a young man who’d been raised to have racist beliefs.

The other example is of a woman (pictured here) who turns away from a life of alcohol addiction. At the moment when she makes this decision, she opens the window and bright white light rushes into her life.

The lyrics to the song, and the music video are included below.

Video. Below is the music video of Some People Change by Montgomery Gentry. You can click the [x] in the upper right corner of the advertisement in the video to close it and move it out of the way.

Lyrics. Below are the lyrics to the song Some People Change by Montgomery Gentry.

His old man was a rebel yeller:
Bad boy to the bone.
He’d say: “Can’t trust that other fella,”
He’d judge ‘em by the tone of their skin.
He was raised to think like his Dad:
Narrow mind full of hate.
On the road to no-where fast,
Till the Grace of God got in the way.
Then he saw the Light an’ hit his knees an’ cried an’ said a prayer:
Rose up a brand new man; left the old one right there.

Here’s to the strong; thanks to the brave.
Don’t give up hope: some people change.
Against all odds, against the grain,
Love finds a way: some people change.

She was born with her mother’s habit:
You could say: “It’s in her blood.”
She hates that she’s gotta have it:
As she fills her glass up.
An she’d love to kill that bottle,
But all she can think about,
Is a, a better life, a second chance,
An’ everyone she’s letting down.
She throws that bottle down.

Here’s to the strong; thanks to the brave.
Don’t give up hope: some people change.
Against all odds, against the grain,
Love finds a way: some people change.

Thank God for those who make it:
Let them be the Light.

(Let them be the light)
(Some people change.)
Here’s to the strong; thanks to the brave.
Don’t give up hope: some people change.
Against all odds, against the grain,
Love finds a way: some people change.
Some people change.

(Some people change)

Summary. In 2010, Pepsi launched the Pepsi Refresh Project and their Refresh Everything campaign using an inspirational music video featuring the song One Tribe by Will.i.am.

The Refresh Everything campaign was established to offer grants to small charities that might not otherwise receive funding.

This is an example of how an advertising campaign can be merged with philanthropy.

Advertisements that are uplifting are more likely to get promoted at the grass roots level by friends telling friends through social networks.

Video. The video of the advertisement is below.