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Vol. 2, No. 28

November 15, 1996

Welcome to another Tripod Insider -- your source for all things Tripod. It was pretty chilly here at Tripod World Headquarters this past week. And we all faced the dreaded task of answering the phones. Read more about your favorite office crew after the editors tell you what's new on Tripod.

Content And Services

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WORK & MONEY
Hey there, hi there, ho there! It's another wild and wooly week in the Work & Money section. In the first of a new series of "Cutting Edge Career" profiles, writer Michael Kaplan introduces us to Brett Ratner and N'Gai "Zodiac" Poindexter (I'm not making that up), two twenty-something auteurs who are making a big splash in the world of music videos. Learn how they got started, what they've had to learn on the job, and what a day on the set is really like.

What would you do if your roommate ran up a $3000 long-distance phone bill, skipped town, and left you holding the proverbial bag? It happened to the Tripod member who submitted this week's Dilemma -- and now Darth Bell wants its money. Stop by and offer your advice and/or condolences.

From micromanagement to outright abuse, we hear a lot from Tripod members who are attempting to cope with bullying bosses. Whether from an immediate supervisor or the grand poobah at the top of the food chain, having to contend with lacerating comments and threats can make the workplace unbearable. Have you ever had to deal with a bullying boss? If so, how did you deal with the abuse? Drop by this week's Work & Money Survey and sound off.

The second Work & Money Watchdog column, "Hard Sell: When OS Stands for Old Shinola," looks at arrogant an ad campaigns that may have revealed more than the company intended about its attitude towards the customer -- and, as a bonus, we even suggest some wacky hard sells of our own for other companies who may wish to jump on the hubris haywagon.

And keep an eye open for next week's launch of "Tripod's Virtual Office," an in-depth look at the workplace of tomorrow by Harry Goldstein and some guy named Williams. See you in the future!

Randy Williams, Editor

POLITICS & COMMUNITY

Election'96 is rapidly becoming a distant memory, but before Bob Dole turns into a trivia question, take a look at the election photographs of Jeoff Davis. Jeoff documents the '96 campaign by capturing politicians in unscripted, awkward moments. After all the analyses and over-analyses of the election, Jeoff's photographs remind us that American politics is essentially a fragile, somewhat goofy, human enterprise.

With the election over, the P&C; survey moves away from politics and into the realm of community. The Internet is the realization of McLuhan's "Global Village," but have we taken this new communication medium too far? Sure, we converse with our e-mail pals in New Guinea, but when is the last time we spoke to our "real" neighbors? Let's talk about the virtues and potential pitfalls of electronic communication.

The Web is a great medium because anyone can publish their own site, but an organization called Paper Tiger strives to make us realize that TV works this way too. Local cable access television provides an easy way for you to add your own voice to the host of images broadcasted daily. Find out more about Paper Tiger TV.

Josh Glenn, Acting Editor

HOMELIFE
In the Women's Room, Marni Davis introduces us to the Third Wave feminist advocacy group: what it was, its recent crisis of relevance and -- as the only young women's grassroots organization that does advocacy work -- what it must be become.

While in the Women's Room, our production manager bumped into an old high school classmate, Barbara Findlen, now Executive Editor of Ms. Magazine. Check out their conversation about the third wave voices who roar and contemplate in "Listen Up," and why we all need to use the "F" word more often.

In Tools for Thought, we took the time to read "Listen Up - voices from the next feminist generation," the anthology of essays by young feminists, and were reminded how the personal is still political, but it is also profound, angry and humorous.

In the survey, optimism is up for debate. Will optimism hinder the fight against AIDS? Or should we be more positive about HIV? Some HIV-positive victims who have taken protease inhibitors -- the latest drug in the fight against AIDS -- now have undetectable levels of the virus in their blood. But it's not a cure, yet. Is this a risk as well as a relief? Doctor Bob is in, with a collection of answers not for the weak of stomach. Doc helps a dry-lipped member who can't help picking the skin off his lips, a confused member with a mystery vaginal discharge, and a recovering mono victim who wonders, how soon before a drink is ok?

And in the Health Puzzler -- well, the diagnosis has been made, but can you help this poor guy out? Third date, first bedroom encounter, first sex in a long time, and he just can't get it up. Anything she can say or do to help?

Emma Taylor, Editor

Tripod Insider

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The temperature is dropping fast here in Williamstown. It even snowed on a few occasions. People have resorted to wearing jackets around the Tripod offices and meetings have been as much about how to stay warm as they have been about how to meet. I hope that when the investors talk about keeping the "burn rate" down, they aren't referring to heat in the offices.

The weather is already starting to take its toll on the staff. Kara was sick for most of last week. Fortunately, her mother came to visit over the weekend and made her all better. Jeff also felt a touch under the weather and actually stayed home for most of an afternoon. Apparently, he doesn't need his mother to get better, but he would do well to start wearing socks on a regular basis.

At least some of the scoop this week is not about who was in the office, but rather who was out of the office. Last Friday, all the boss-types (C.E.Bo, Bruce, and Scott) skipped town leaving the rest of the kids to hold down the fort. I wish I could tell you that we had a raging party, but it was business as usual. A more noticeable absence was felt when Colleen, our Femme d'affaires, took a couple vacation days, leaving the task of answering the phones to the rest of us. It's amazing that, for such a "high-tech" company, the majority of us still don't know how to use the phone system.

Tripod Membership

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Thanks for becoming a member of Tripod.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me.
My mailbox is always open.

Tung T. Pham
Membership Director
[email protected]

This has been another issue of the Tripod Insider, the occasional newsletter on what's happening at Tripod. Past issues of the Tripod Insider are also available.

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