The interview was done via e-mail. All questions were sent to Julie at once, and she typed up her answers and sent ‘em back.

Grab a beverage. This is a long post.

Enjoy.

Julie: I wouldn’t say I’m a visionary, because I’m still of the old school where follow-through is everything. Which is ridiculous, because at some point I learned to start calling myself a writer even if I’m not being published. I’m definitely a dreamer. Maybe a sounder-outer? Anyone who’s talked with me knows I go off a lot. Not the same as sounding off, which I also do from time to time. But like any writer, I suppose, I need to edit. So I sound things out. A lot gets tossed aside. And of late I’ve been incredibly lucky to have found a group of people in, or on the peripheries of publishing, who seem to genuinely appreciate that process.

Photo by Carl W. Heindl

And, of course, my thing is community. Not so much solidarity and all that, but the need for a lot of people to each perform a little task so that together we can mark a larger space. Sometimes, I’m happy to perform that little task alone. In the past year or so, however, I’ve wanted to be at the forefront. I think both roles indicate leadership. But it’s not like once we’re all airborne I have a clue as to how we’ll stay up, or where the landing strip is, for that matter. I was on a Porter flight with Nic Boshart heading to BookCamp Halifax, and as we were landing he started laughing about how bizarre it is that we ever thought we could get, and keep, a however-many-ton craft in air using some fans. Let’s just say that I spend a lot of time cursing once I get my own crafts off the ground.

Oh! You know what I am?! An only child.

Beyond that, I like supporting good people with good ideas. I support action. I support change. I support walking away. I wish more people would.

Or, to answer the question you as possibly intended, I’m a writer and author/book promoter who has managed to secure just enough clients that I get to work only with people I admire in areas of reputation management, visibility, and discovera…

Fuck it, I’m Aquaman. Next question.

Q: Where did the name Book Madam come from?

Julie: I was running an online contest with Indigo, then McNally Robinson. Just a wee thing. I was offering my services as a personal book shopper. The contest ran on Twitter, so I asked entrants to submit a short bio in ten words. From there, I boasted that I’d “hook” them up with a book. I decided to create a separate feed for the contest, and solicited names. A number of people really liked the intimacy of being “hooked up”, so the shortlist was created pretty quickly. Frankly, I wanted Book Daddy. But I think it was Jaime Woo who landed on Book Madam. (No ‘e’.)

At first, it took some time to take myself seriously. But I loved the idea of a Madam learning about your tastes and then guiding you to Door #2 and the hope that the reader would come away satisfied. This is what hand selling is all about. And reader services, for that matter. Listening to a person in the hope that you can help them get what they want. And now that we have The Associates in place at BookMadam.com, with more to come, I really feel that we’ve hit upon something, a place where online visitors can go and pick and choose from a variety of blog posts and personalities to suit your every need. We’re all also quite social beings. We feel very much of this community.

Ultimately, though, in choosing each Associate, I wanted individuals who also had other skill sets or unique identities. I know it sounds silly, but I love, for instance, that Kimberly Walsh knows so much about dachshunds, or that Sean Cranbury knows so much about music, or that Nic Boshart does those insane MS Paint cartoons (not to mention that he’s also a publisher), and so on. Publishing is about stories, and I believe that the things each Associate shares, or even the way in which they share them, echoes that whole idea that it’s not so much the story as how it’s told. And I really dig these guys. I like hanging out with them. They bring a lot to my world. (That’s right! F@ck you, Cranbury!) (Little inside joke there.)

Q: Would you agree with the estimation that you are becoming an internet celebrity?

Julie: Good god, man, for real? I’ll concede that in a wee corner of this industry there are people who know of me and there have been times when I can see something in their eyes when we finally meet that makes me wish I’d tried a little harder with my hair that day. I had that experience recently with an author, and it kind of blew me away. Her face completely lit up and, for a second, I found myself thinking, “Oh, this is awkward. Poor thing thinks I’m someone else.” But, no; she was just really happy to see me. But I’m a person who doesn’t play it very close to the chest in a highly competitive industry. People are constantly telling me to stop sounding out my ideas. But, so far, every time I have has lead to a new opportunity or conversation. So, to that end, I’m not so much a celebrity as I am a person who has had the tremendous good fortune to get to know a lot of people I tend to connect with. Then again, now that everyone knows I’m Aquaman, I may have to change my phone number.

Q: How have books come to be such important part of your life?

Here’s the thing. I’m not well-read. I’m trying to change that. I have a hard time keeping focus. I don’t know if it’s anything beyond the usual response to a fast-paced world, but I still haven’t found the Off switch that shuts out the world, no matter where I am, so that I can just sit with a book for a full day, or days on end. Even as a kid, my report cards all said that I was plenty smart but that my lack of focus was holding me back.

In hindsight, I’d argue that I needed something else to focus on. But that feedback extended into university where I was often told that I’d never get the grades to go to teacher’s college (my original plan) or to pursue my Master’s degree (my fall back plan) if I couldn’t produce papers that showed I knew how to research and respond. I’d hand in these philosophical beasts with, like, five support titles. As long as I can remember, the “real work” has always gotten in the way of “what I want to do.” See the aforementioned reference to being an only child.

Yet, even if I have trouble reading, I’ve always understood that books were legitimate, socially-acceptable method of effectively being alone with yourself. You might stumble across me in a room sitting alone and staring into space. Put a book in my hand and I’m less creepy. Book as prop has always intrigued me.

Secondary to that, I love the idea of book as social object, the thing around which we conduct all kinds of conversations. Book as vessel also inspires me, although I’m personally more taken by recitation, which may be why I’ve taken to recording poets in my spare time and for clients.

Ultimately, I love books because I want to write them. And as a social being who supports the efforts and visions of her peers, it makes sense that I should want to know more about those whose company I wish to keep. And in those rare moments when I’m capable of focus, there are strings of words that have changed my life. Was it Alice Munro who said that writing was the best way she could imagine being alive in the world? I couldn’t disagree with that. But when the words don’t come, just even the knowledge that someone else found them is one of the greatest gifts I can imagine.

Q: From what I know about you, I get the impression that you wear a number of hats. Is my perception correct? What sorts of things are you involved in, and which of them pay the bills?

Julie: I do a lot of one-offs, so the appearance could be that I’m working with or for a lot of organizations. I suppose I wear a lot of hats in that I don’t have a team, so any time I get myself into something, I’m responsible for producing, managing, and maintaining the project. But I like to think (or hope) that most of it’s part of a rough draft for some larger job description or project or community or something I haven’t yet put my finger on.

For instance, a few years ago, I don’t know that I could have pronounced myself The Book Madam without a solid following for Seen Reading, some professional credibility from my time at House of Anansi Press, and even a little bit of notoriety for doing things like getting my publisher kicked off Facebook for creating a friendship profile for a corporation, and, most certainly, for my small ‘s’ snafu with an Indigo bookseller over copyright protection and whether what I was doing at Seen Reading was in violation of that. I got a lot of public support, including from Indigo Corp, which signaled to me that the time was right.

I had no clue what the plan was, but I went after ECW Press to sign a companion guide to True Blood, the savviest thing I’ve ever done, then turned my attention to my relationship. Would it bear the weight of me leaving my job at Anansi? All signs pointed to yes. And I’d say within minutes of announcing my departure, things started to fall into place, including a guest host gig for the CBC Book Club during Canada Reads. That provided me with a huge platform from which I encouraged bloggers and tweeters to get more involved with the book club, which, in turn, increased my visibility, which, in turn, showed a lot of people that I was genuine. I wasn’t selling anything. Cause I wasn’t making anything.

That’s when I started attracting paying clients. I have a few, and it’s enough that I don’t have to accept everything that comes my way, much of which are requests from authors to help with their publicity, which isn’t exactly what I do. One of my clients pays with grant money. That project centres around creating a poetry performance archive and finding ways to disseminate those recordings. Right up my alley. Another client pays out of pocket to tutor in all matters to do with social media and online reputation management. It’s a great relationship. Very organic considering that it sounds so manufactured. But it’s not. There’s a new game in town: How to appear to be in all the right places, still get your job done, and not leave a social trail that would suggest you’ve been on Twitter all day.

All to say, that I liken entrepreneurial endeavors to trying to feel a breeze on a day on which there’s no wind. It’s only going to happen if you put yourself in motion. And as with most freelancers, paying the bills isn’t the problem so much as having money in place when the bills arrive. (Lots of hurry up and wait.)

Q: Are you doing the sorts of things that you’ve always imagined yourself doing? Did you have a plan of attack?

Julie: I don’t know that I knew it would be books, but I’m not surprised that I’m doing things associated with stories and ideas and social experiments. That’s really exciting for me. Certainly, I feel as if I’m being taken seriously. To be perfectly honest though, I’m still waiting for that one job that pays enough and allows me to let my freak flag fly on behalf of all publishers, books, and authors.

I like the energy rush that comes from being able to play around with ideas of book and author promotion, but it can get exhausting when it’s for a number of different clients. In my perfect world, I’m writing part-time and working in a management role for an organization that has a large enough community that we can measure the impact and pleasure of any number of ideas I have floating above my head. And just enough influence that I can keep myself on the Griffin invite list and get myself back onto the Giller invite list. Hell, if I have to write a shortlisted book, that’s what I’ll do. I’m Aquaman!

Q: What are your thoughts on the whole e-book phenomenon?

Julie: Don’t quote me, but I think we’ll buy more books; non-traditional consumers will start buying books (being able to share them freely will be the key, I’d suspect); but I’m not convinced we see evidence that more people are reading necessarily, although I could be persuaded to believe that younger consumers will teach themselves to be lifelong readers on such devices. And while I don’t think the printed book is going anywhere, I’d like to see something on the effect of e-books and e-reading on older generations. Do you know? Will they stop buying books altogether and commit instead to rereading what they already own?

Not sure where I’m going with this, but issues of access concern me. When my grandmother died, we found a drawer of old Walkmans with the play button depressed. She kept buying new ones because she couldn’t see the buttons well enough to know that she was draining the batteries. This was a woman of very sharp mind. Her senses, however, were another story. I can’t even imagine what she’d do with an e-reader, yet at the time of her death she was probably one of the best read people I’d ever known.

For different reasons, I don’t know where this leaves underprivileged people. It’s not to say that e-books will isolate readers to the farthest corners, but I don’t necessarily see them as social glue either. But while you can be certain we’ll continue to top up our landfills with this new gadget or that, and the media will cover every movement, I’d hate to see the disenfranchised left curbside.

Q: How many of the Canadian BookCamps have you attended, and what sorts of experiences have you had with them?

Julie: I’ve been to the first two camps in Toronto, and the inaugural camps in Vancouver and Halifax. Hey, is that all of them so far? Have I collected the set?

All of the experiences have been great. I go with very low expectations. I don’t rely on the panelists to go for gold. If just one person says one thing that gets me thinking, I’m ecstatic and won’t stop talking about it until I’ve found a release for the idea.

The first year in Toronto was electric. I don’t know that that was repeated this past year. I think that’s a reflection of how far the industry has come in terms of knowing one another online, in person, and what each of us is up to. Last year was like trying to catch fire flies in a jar, there were so many faces to connect with names. It was also much less corporate. Again, I see that as a sign of the success of last year’s camp that the industry understood it had to have a face this year. Where do they go next year? Not sure, but I suspect the way the panels are organized has to change drastically.

That said, people are still talking about the geolocation seminar, a good ol’ fashioned brainstorm session that was led by Ashleigh Gardner who is exceptionally good at knowing how to keep a room enthused and on track. The Toronto team has a really hard task because its demographic is a gong show of personalities and expectations. A big, happy family, mind you. But it must be like trying to plan a wedding. How could you possibly please everyone? They do a tremendous job. I was joking recently that I think the key to future success is to take us out of our comfort zones. In Toronto, that means off the transit lines. Dare we?

Vancouver was a whole other vibe. I was an outsider, so I barely knew anyone by face. I knew Sean Cranbury and Monique Trottier quite well, but had never socialized with them. And I got to see Deanna McFadden from HarperCollins facilitate for the first time, something that I’ll cherish when she’s pulling in $80,000 to speak at annual AGMs about how to stay passionate in the industry.

I feel the same about the first time I saw Sean speak at the first Toronto BookCamp and thought, “Who the hell is this Richard Branson character?” No one knew this guy. Yet he flew in, all chill, and wearing his shorts and shit. I had no idea he was taking as big a chance as I was. Going it alone. He’s such a good guy and a close buddy now. That’s what BookCamp does; it brings the right kind of characters together who otherwise just can’t find the time or opportunity to land on each other’s radar.

It happened again this year in Halifax when I realized just how on the ball Meghan MacDonald is. It took flying to Halifax, out of our comfort zones, for me to see that there could be a way to work together, even if our professional paths don’t collide. And, of course, the lovely Kimberly Walsh proved to be only lovelier, billeting me in her house.

This might all sound airy-fairy, but it’s kind of the point in publishing. Connecting is one thing; but how we connect will determine the future of the industry. There are people who connect just fine on the level of tech and production. I’m not one of those people. So I absolutely need platforms like BookCamp to perform outreach and sit in the same rooms with my peers long enough that if they start out thinking I’m a wing nut, I have time to change their minds by the time we hit the pub. I see it this way: I can’t fish worth shit. Can’t read the waters. Can’t touch a worm. But if you drop my line, I know when to set the hook. That’s all I got! That’s it! I can’t even get the fish into the cooler. So gatherings like this are not only fun, they’re key for people like me with this niche skill set.

Q: I’ve just finished a book called L:and things come apart by Ian Orti, which is like a painting made of words. The way this book is put together, both in terms of the writing and the physical production, make it, to my mind, an objet d’art, something both to read and to hold. Do you think this sort of book is in danger of disappearing, or do small publishers like Invisible have a necessary place in our culture?

Julie: Not only do I think books like this have a place, I think they’ll become hugely popular. As I type this, I’m looking at a chapbook, part of The Pocket Canon Revue put out by Misprints Press, a series that ended a few years ago. The Revue published anonymous authors and was created in part in response to writers who had works that were either deemed unsaleable or fell outside the identity the author was building for him/herself. There may have also been some sexy bits. *titter*

Each edition was launched with a cool party and embodied a real sense of celebration for both product and process. There are books you want to own because they come with something extra. Not hyperlinked text or book club questions. In person, community-driven value. When every bookstore, provided they still exist, is fit with a Print-On-Demand machine of some sort, the consumer will never leave empty-handed, because the bookseller will always have what the consumer wants or needs. To my mind, this means that booksellers will be able to get back to the business, actual business, of selling the books they love, support, and know something about.

That said, while e-readers and e-books will continue to get cheaper, my one concern is that, like Polaroid film, once a staple item in every household, ink and print production materials will become more and more expensive. That said, Invisible is one helluva publisher to watch. I defer to them. I plan to work with them in some way, some day, not only because I think they’re smart and sassy, but because as an author, I’d feel supremely confident that they know how to produce and tag books in ways that will make sure the author’s work is locatable and discoverable no matter what its format. (Pay up, Boshart!)

Q: In your experience, is technology really helping us as much as the pundits tell us it is? Or is everything just moving too fast nowadays?

If I were to look at how many devices I own, I’d be tempted to say that technology is moving too fast. But we know that not to be the case. For instance, I’m sure we’ve already figured out time travel, but now we have to find a palatable way to make the consumer pay for it in increments. The only reason they haven’t released the iCapsule is because, unlike poor battery life or DRM, no developer wants to see, “Thanks, loser! My head is stuck in South Miami!” in their reviews. So I’m hesitant to weigh in because it’s probably all worked out.

My goal is not to fall for it every step of the way and to try to find ways to implement organic, community-driven projects that force technology to make space for as many individual stories as possible. Also, see aforementioned reference to access. What technology will provide is more opportunities for more people to create and disseminate their stories, a very real concern for those who won’t have access to the tools or trade.

Q: Finally, if you can, would you sum up the Book Madam Way? That is to say, what’s your philosophy on life, the universe, and, well, everything?

Is Shamon! an answer? It’s tough. Can you poll some people? There’s my answer! Crowd source!

A blog with no readers is really no blog at all, and I'm grateful to everyone who has read my posts, especially to those who've taken the time to comment. Feedback is essential for a writer, and I've been fortunate to have received some very supportive comments.

I think the next stage in the evolution is to try and widen the audience. This has been running around in the back of my head for some time, now, of course, but I've been more focussed on getting into a routine and establishing my topics.

But now, methinks, it's time to delve into the realm of self-promotion. This is something I've never been entirely comfortable with, but it's also something that would seem to be necessary for anyone who wants to get their writing "out there." I know there are tips and tricks for getting a blog or website noticed, and I've read a few here and there, but I want to make sure I'm doing the right things, and doing them for the right reasons.

I do have an ego. Despite my moniker and its awkward history, I do still have a desire for approval and a fear of rejection. I suppose everyone has these in varying degrees, but I'm painfully aware of the fact that my self-esteem does not have the most solid of foundations under it, and that the emotional carpet can be quite easily pulled out from under me.

And yet, I keep writing on this damned thing. And I want people to read it. And yes, I'll be honest here; I want more people to read it. Because I feel that writing is one my strongest abilities, and I want my writing to be read.

So I wish to promote the blog.

But I want to do it the right way, and I want to do it in a way that doesn't get in people's faces and annoy them. At the moment, my main promotional channels are Twitter and Facebook. I have an account on Twitterfeed, which is a service that automatically sends out a tweet on my behalf when I post a new entry on the blog. And I have Facebook set up so that it uses my most recent Twitter tweet as my status line.

It works nicely. When I check my WordPress blog stats, it usually shows me that most of the traffic to the blog has come from Twitter and Facebook. Which is pretty much what one would expect.

So now I need to take the next step. And there are a lot of resources out there with information on increasing blog traffic. I know the first thing I need to do is what they call SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. There are a lot of techniques for increasing a site's visibility on search engines, and there are even a bunch of WordPress plugins that can greatly help in that area. So I'm planning on doing my research and experimenting with that a bit.

But then what?

I know I need to comment on other people's blogs, and I intend to do that as well, but again, for my own peace of mind, my intentions must be honorable. I don't want to just comment on other blogs willy-nilly, with no intent other than to get attention for myself. I need to engage in meaningful dialogue with other bloggers and actually contribute something (useful or entertaining) to their sites and their communities.

Then there's the whole Twitter thing, which I know people are using like crazy to promote their businesses and websites. As of this writing, I follow 106 people and have 90 followers. Most of the people I follow are people that I know, and they tweet various random things and have mini-conversations. A few of the people I follow are promoting their businesses, but they also post really interesting and useful links. If someone does nothing but promote their business in their tweets, I'm just not interested, so I unfollow them. I need useful (or at least entertaining) information in order to keep following someone.

Every once a while I'll see a tweet from someone that goes something like: "Get 400 followers a day using <insert-URL-here>". This is amusing to me, and if I see one of these, I almost invariably unfollow the person who posted it. Sure, I'd love to have more followers, but I'd like to have some quality over just quantity. There are a lot of spam-bots out there automatically following people, and it's annoying as hell.

And here's the other thing. I feel guilty if someone follows me and I don't follow them back. I feel like there's some code of conduct or unwritten rule that I'm not abiding by. But not everyone who follows me is of interest to me. It's as simple as that.

I don't like spam, I don't like annoying repeat tweets, and I don't like in-your-face selling. So why would I want to do any of these things myself? I want to connect with people who are actually interested in reading my stuff; I don't want to blast indiscriminately and attract readers with whom I have nothing in common. They'll take a quick look at the site, and then never return.

I'm basically an ethical person. I don't want to misrepresent myself, I don't want to waste people's time, and I sure as hell don't want to annoy anyone. But I do want to keep writing, and I do want to interact with people who are interested in what I have to say. So, for me, the goal is to find ways to promote the site that won't make me look like an attention-grabbing egotist.

Ultimately, I'd love to make some money from this blog. But I refuse to just dive in and start doing what the "experts" say I should do. Because I don't believe in the model that most businesses use these days. I don't believe in saturation marketing, and I don't believe in the typical "make money by teaching people how to make money" scheme that seems to be damn near everywhere.

I need to find a model that works for me. Something ethical, humanistic, and real. Something that incorporates human interaction, information, entertainment, and above all, humor. Good God, there has to be humor. I cannot survive without humor. And I'm sure as hell not going to work with a self-promotion scheme that doesn't make use of humour in some manner.

If any of you out there have any suggestions for me, I would welcome them. I'm new to the whole promotion thing, and I need to take small steps, get my feet wet before diving full in. All comments will be enthusiatically and gratefully read.

I know there's an answer to this, because otherwise why would I believe so strongly in what I'm doing? It feels like I'm heading in the right direction, and I think it's only a matter of adjusting my course by a degree or two one way or the other.

This is important.

So I want to do it right.

Thanks for reading.

Gesundheit.

(And in honor of self-promotion, here's the video for one of my favorite songs, "Look at Me" by Geri Halliwell. Man, it looks like she's having fun there at the end.)

Okay, here's the thing. I'm not an avid researcher of things Disney. I don't scour the internet looking for information that will support one view of Disney or another. Despite that, however, I seem to have developed a mental picture, both of Walt Disney the man and Disney the corporation, that is not particularly appealing.

Why do I have the impression that Walt Disney was a racist? Why do I have it in my head that he was interested in what the Nazis were doing in 1930s Germany? Why do I have the sense that Disney employees are overworked, underpaid, and subject to near-tyrannical rules and regulations?

Did these notions just appear unbidden in my head? Have I been reading the wrong websites? Have the opinions of many ill-informed readers and writers simply overwhelmed our current zeitgeist?

Or is there something to it?

I honestly don't know. What I do know is that ultra-conservatism can lead to fascism. That the promotion of "family values" can be taken to extremes and lead to intolerance and bigotry. That preservation of the status quo, if held to blindly and inflexibly, can suffocate the very thing it's trying to protect and lead to stagnation.

Yes, I realize that by writing this post in this manner, I'm probably coming across as anti-Disney. But in reality, I don't know enough about either the man or the corporation to give any kind of informed opinion on either. I'm simply exploring possibilities here, asking questions, wondering what the real story is. There's a lot of rhetoric out there, and lot of mindless chest-pounding as well. It's a challenge to find the thoughtful, informed, intelligent commentors, but they're worth finding, and I will continue to seek them out.

As far as the Marvel acquisition is concerned, no one knows what's going to happen. It's a sure bet that Disney is going to merchandise the hell out of the Marvel stable of characters, but beyond that, we'll just have to wait and see. It does vex me, however, to think of people in Spider-Man and Iron Man costumes wandering around Disneyland and Disney World, making photo-ops for the kiddies.

But then, I'm not planning on visiting either of those places, so perhaps I should just shut up about it.

I'm painfully aware of the fact that I'm not the most assiduous researcher in the world, and I know that I can jump to conclusions with the best of them. As one of my favorite authors, Harlan Ellison, once said: "You are not entitled to your opinion, you are entitled to your informed opinion. If you are not informed on the subject, then your opinion counts for nothing." Harsh words, but words I have taken to heart over the years. I know my shortcomings.

So, not wishing to be narrow-minded or bedecked with blinders, I find myself asking this question: What would Captain America do?

Captain America is Marvel's symbol of American patriotism. You won't find another superhero character anywhere who so staunchly defends the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens. He's a champion of democracy, bane of tyranny, defender of "truth, justice, and the American way". (Yeah, I know. That's Superman. But it fits.)

Cap's not without his problems, certainly. After all, he was "created" in the 1930s to be a super-soldier and fight against the Nazis, but he ended up in the 1960s due to an accident where he fell from an experimental drone plane and spent nearly thirty years frozen in a block of ice in the North Atlantic.

So the man is a throwback, even for the sixties. He had to adjust to an age quite different from that in which he was born and raised. He had to apply his World War II-era moral compass to one of the most turbulent decades in history. It was not an easy time for him.

Still in all, he managed to become one of the most iconic superheroes of all time. Through all his trials and tribulations, his moral center never budged, and his vision of the world stood him in good stead as he waged battle after battle, both solo and with the Avengers, against the forces of crime and corruption.

Given all this, one might think that Captain America would be proud to stand among the many representatives of the Disney empire. After all, Disney has been producing good, clean, all-American entertainment for eighty-six years. It's a strong promoter of American family values, and it's been filling and fulfilling the dreams of American children for as long as it's been around.

And yet, look at what happened in the many pages of Marvel's Civil War saga. When the U.S. government brought in the Superhuman Registration Act, it was not Captain America, but Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, who jumped on board and began spouting the party line. Cap was opposed to the act. He felt that the rights and freedoms of individuals were more important than rules and regulations of even his own government. He became the outlaw, and he went underground.

I believe all large corporations have the potential to become "evil empires". When corporations become large enough, their rules and regulations can often become more important than the people following them. The human aspect of the enterprise is often overlooked or forgotten. The almighty dollar becomes as a god, and the company worships it above all others, even making sacrifices in its honor.

Disney is the largest media and entertainment conglomerate in the world, and in order to keep itself from toppling under its own weight, it must have a very precise set of policies and procedures in place. The sheer size of the company precludes flexibity. It has to keep rolling, or it will stall, stagnate, and fall apart.

So we don't even need the rumors of draconian treatment of employees. It's enough to know that, in a corporation that big, the individual doesn't matter. There is such a thing as "too big", and the constant acquisitions of smaller companies by larger companies is not strengthening the economy or making the world a better place to live. It's stifling competition and all but stamping out creativity. The net result? We are exposed to mindless drivel on television, in the movie theaters, in magazines, and in newspapers.

No, I just don't think Captain America would approve.

I know I don't.

Gesundheit.

(And here, for your entertainment and edification, is Captain America's theme from the 1966 Marvel Super Heroes animated TV show. Even his theme song is patriotic-sounding.)