Thanks for stopping by and wondering enough about this site to check out the page about me. My name is Janice Person but I’ve been signing things as jp for years…. and somehow that became something a few friends called me. I got a Twitter account in spring 2009 and since I was thinking I’d use social media to connect with folks from work, I made my username JPlovesCOTTON since I have happily worked in the cotton industry a long time. And that stuck too. As I started using social media more, the idea of blogging sounded good and now I’m here.
Jerusalem in June 2011
When folks ask about my background, there are a few things that come to mind:
- My passions are photography, travel and agriculture. Putting all those things together its understandable that differences in culture are intriguing to me…. I can spend a lot of time soaking up things. Its almost always a colorful adventure!
- Photography — My first “real” job that gave me a regular paycheck was a way to get my first SLR (a Pentax 1000). I carried that camera everywhere shooting things that were everyday objects or new sights. Today I can have several cameras on me at once — shooting with my Canon DSLRs, a Canon point and shoot,
- Travel — I got the travel bug early in life…. probably from the first trip I remember making with my family. Camping in the Smoky Mountains, a trip to DisneyWorld and visiting Miami! A trip like that opens eyes and I’ve been looking for ways to get that feeling again & again ever since! I’ve been to a lot of countries overseas that makes people wonder how I picked them…. first time out of the US was to the Soviet Union, since then I’ve been to Japan, Turkey, Italy, Malaysia, India, China, England, Israel, The Philippines, The Netherlands and Belgium.
- Agriculture — I’m a city girl. Born and raised. From generations of city folks. Interesting since I have such a passion for agriculture. Luckily I didn’t need to let go of any of my passions for the city! But I added farming while doing an internship with a family friend during college. He gave me a chance to meet my first cotton farmer and I realized I wanted to work with folks I really liked being around! Cotton communications became the major thrust of my career & the crop a major passion.
- I’ve lived in a variety of places — grew up in Memphis, went to college in Enid, OK before returning to Memphis for grad school. Once I was able to get a reasonable paycheck, I took a job in suburban NY (White Plains if you know the area) for 4 years before making a really dramatic shift and moving to the Mississippi Delta. I had a chance to live in Memphis again for 4 years (seriously that was awesome) before making a move to St. Louis in 2011.
I found blogging by accident and yet, it was seemingly always meant to be. I just didn’t know what it was at the time. So, let me start this over. This is just my blog. Ideas that come to mind. I do this blog because I love sharing stories of the colorful world I get to experience. and the people who help the rest of us eat so well. I’ve been lucky enough to find a spot in the world where I work with great people and topics everyday and have for a very long time. That gives me a different perspective sometimes. The information I’m posting here is based on things I generally find interesting to family and friends. The opinions here are my own. Feel free to agree or disagree. I just want a place to capture some things as they run through my mind. There is more along this line on the “What Flies Here” page.
My current job is one that lets me pair my enthusiasm for agriculture & communications. And my personal involvement with social media led to my being more involved in social media for the Monsanto public affairs team. But this blog is my personal ideas shaped by travel experiences, people I meet, my camera’s catching something and a couple of decades of working in agriculture. I usually write a few posts over the weekend to share during the coming week. For work things. you can occasionally catch me writing for the Monsanto blog Beneath the Rows as well as quite a few other communications efforts there.
If you would like to know about the way I view and approach social media, you may want to list to the podcast interview Truffle Media’s John Blue did or listen to my presentation from 140conf small town. If you’d like to get in touch try Twitter or email me at JPlovesCOTTON@janiceperson.com.
JP, for some reason Twitter will not let me DM you. May I link my website and facebook page to your blog article about hogs_r_us and iamafarmer2? It’s a great testament to the good care farmers give their animals. Thanks!
Great blog! I’m looking forward to seeing the photos you’ve taken during your vacation in the Phil.
‘was really nice meeting you and i hope you enjoyed your stay.
Thank-you so much for your blog. We farmers need to tell our story of how we produce our food.
Andrew Donnell
You are welcome! I didn’t know about the Donnell Century Farm. Looks like you guys are pretty close by! May have to bring a niece up for a visit!
great comments today-
hope to hang out with you again soon!
I’m going to BH next weekend with my mom
hope you are well
Thanks girl for stopping by the blog and saying hello! I really would love to get together. Have a great time and we will talk to you via social media in the meantime. Love ya!
Love your blog!
and YES I farmville (is that a verb?) and I have a garden!!
I just wish I could garden all the time and had more land to plow than 6 ft by 20 ft!!!
And my friend and I get all excited when we travel to millington and see a tractor and some crops on the way!!!
LOVE Farmers!!
Thanks for the fun ag-related mascots. You have some that I have not heard of.
I have focused on high school mascots. How about the Fordson, MI Tractors or close to are the Beetdiggers.
See my blog post at http://tinyurl.com/dl89k8
Hi JP! Thanks so much for commenting and adding me to your blog roll! I appreciate it. I’m glad to read your blog, too! – Carla
Greetings,
My organization, Worldwide Farmers Exchange, was established over fifty years ago to help rebuild Japan’s agriculture then. We are still here to help today. Our method of assistance is building skills and confidence in young agriculturalists by providing them with internships and training programs.
Last year people from forty different countries took advantage of our program. We offer paid internships and training programs with successful American agricultural businesses across the United States. Interns come for 12 months, receive free housing, medical insurance, individual support and a minimum stipend of $900 per month. The program is, in essence, free for the trainee and we receive zero tax dollars from the US government.
We can help displaced Japanese farmers with hosts here in the US and we are always looking for new host farms hers in the US.
Please let me know how I can help with efforts to help Japan’s affected people.
Chris Barden
VP/ARO
WFE
Thanks for stopping by Chris and for your willingness to assist on rebuilding other farms & farmers. I have been collecting a number of these kinds of things through media reports etc and will be putting another post together on some of the projects I have heard about. Will definitely put your group on the list.
Thanks for stopping by my blog, Janice! I look forward to reading more of your posts.
Andrea, mypathiswideopen.com
I just jumped on the blog train!! whoo hoo!!!
shana land…check me out!!
I’m so jazzed! You will be awesome!
Fun to check out your blog! Like finding more people passionate about agriculture!
I agree! Lots of fun finding people with similar interests miles away.