Yes, They Really Do Use "Big Checks"

One of the more interesting tasks of my job lately was attending a benefit at the Field Museum where I took part in the presentation of a large, fake check. ICAAP received a grant from the Aetna Foundation to support our project on maternal depression. (I was not the lead grantwriter - this is a joint project with a local health system, which has a whole development department - but I helped write it). Apparently, we competed against Johns Hopkins and other notable institutions so Aetna and the health system wanted to make a big deal out of the grant. Hence the photo op. Pictured below are some partner groups, the Aetna rep, and me.

It was an eventful summer for me and media events. This was about the same time I was invited to stand with our Governor, Rod Blagojevich (bla-GOY-uh-vich, for those not local to Illinois) at a press conference. I was ushered into a "green room" with other organizational representatives, to wait for His appearance. He's taller and skinnier than you'd think. We each shook his hand while an official photographer took our picture with him, then we were all lead out in front of the cameras. Unforunately, the media was totally disinterested in the topic of his press conference (electronic medical records), so it received virtually no coverage.