Hey Valerie et al. –

In this post, I
1. give info about my website
2. propose we form a wikipedia support group
3. invite you all to lunch next Tuesday

Here’s my website: www.JessicaSchaeffer.com. I had it designed when I moved to California after graduating from NU and decided to establish myself as a freelance musician. I’ve done everything from weddings to new music premiers to recordings to rock concerts and the website has been helpful in sharing that information quickly and easily and has also played an important role in getting the gigs that pay (weddings). Please keep in mind it hasn’t been updated in, oh, four years (if anyone knows anyone who does website work, I am wanting to hire someone to do work on it...) but it looks good, puts forth a certain image, and has musical samples, which clients always want. Remember too, this website is intended for a particular audience – those who would want to hire a harpist for a private event. If I wanted to promote myself to a different target audience, there would be a different spin on the whole thing (i.e. if I wanted to promote myself as a soloist, my bio probably wouldn’t mention my expertise in wedding ceremonies!).

More important than the website itself, though, was the actual process of designing it and answering questions like – how do I want to position myself? What is the image I want to portray? What kind of clients do I want to attract? What is important? It makes you look at yourself objectively and makes you realize that you determine your image. I also had to realize that I was trying to be a business and, as such, I needed to sell my image and playing as a package deal. The visual component is just too important to disregard.

If you want to know specifics about how I had this built, costs, pictures, etc., and also how I reconciled my sense of musical integrity with the realities of trying to make a living as a musician, let me know!

Secondly, as I was recounting my major victory on wikipedia (creating one successful citation in an hour) to a friend, she suggested that this particular undertaking might be made a lot easier if we did it collaboratively. I think that’s a great idea! I imagine all of us in the library or somewhere with our laptops (do we all have laptops? The library has laptops you can check out...) figuring out Wikipedia together. For instance, I now know that I can help you all with creating footnotes and citing a website! I also know there’s a lot I don’t know! Let me know if this is something anyone might be interested in and perhaps we can find a time over the weekend or next week to get together.

Along those lines, and forgive me if I sound sentimental (not by Hewett’s standards, I hope!), but I have really enjoyed being in class with all of you this semester and always wish we had more time to discuss this, that, and the other thing. I can think of no better way to end our Tuesday meetings than to invite y’all over for lunch after Tuesday’s class. I know not everyone can make that time (come later!) but I think that’s probably the best time to do it. Emily can attest that I live, literally, a minute from Longy (29 Concord Ave.) so it will be convenient and easy. I’ll make the lunch (sorry, no five course meal) and I have rehearsal at 3:30 so, unfortunately, there will be no celebratory cocktails either. I can promise food for all, though, just let me know if the 12:30-2:30 time frame works for you!