Last week, my kids' school (shout out to Highland Community School) held a fundraising event marking its 40th anniversary; it featured live music, an auction and tray upon tray of fabulous food.

My best friend, Chef Antonio Evans, was executive chef and I got to play the role of his sous-chef. I've never worked in a kitchen before so this experience was both a treat and a horrific nightmare. I started slowly by cubing cheese and worked my way up to working the oven and dressing main courses.

It was a large event with hundreds in attendance. Once the appetizers began flowing, we were flying back there in 100-degree heat. Huge pans of ravioli, meatballs and tortellini were going in and out of the oven in a blur. Servers were calling out orders for more this and more that (the "that" was quite tasty, by the way), and it became an unconscious act of movement and coordination that seemed second nature.

I remember from time to time drinking small glasses filled with scotch.

It was an exhilarating experience and the lack of thought and contemplation about the food (since we were moving so quickly) actually added value to what we were serving. The less I thought about how to build the perfect canapé, the more perfect they became. At our busiest hour, we were creating the best eats.

This haphazard opera of creativity got me thinking about my own job.

In the ad biz, we attempt to work smartly. Generally, we develop a strategy, hatch tactics and produce appropriate, fresh, targeted work. Much thought is put into each word, color and visual. Everything is there for a reason and its form eloquently follows its function. But sometimes this process is anything but "thoughtful."

Sometimes it's more like working a kitchen. Sometimes, especially in the concept stage, throwing out ideas, designs or taglines without any real thought can lead to the best work. Tom Monahan, a nationally recognized creative guru, calls this sloppy approach "100 m…

According to the University of Washington's World Information Access report, worldwide arrests of bloggers are sharply increasing. Apparently, it's quite dangerous to blog in China, Iran and Egypt.

Even right here in the U.S. of A., people are paying the price for offending others with words ... evil words. Of course, many of these arrests were made for threatening harm or attempting to inspire others to violence, but others were simply for criticizing policy.

A fellow in the U.K. was taken in after he blogged about a police officer, making a veiled threat about his "newborn baby." Obviously, there are times when a "closer look" is justified by authorities, but where is the line?

Ah, the age-old struggle of freedom of speech is finding its legs in Blog Town.

Well, come and get me, Copper. I certainly have upset of few folks with my words. I've received my fair share of negative comments and recently was forwarded a letter attempting to slap my literary wrist. At least someone's paying attention, I guess.

And God bless us all.

Freedom to your own opinion is as strong as nature. A river is going where it's going and we can do little about it. In turn, if Molly Snyder Edler wants to question the existence of Zima or if Andy Tarnoff feels the need to spout off about ignorant Brewers fans, well, more power to 'em.

What most governments and conservative organizations really fear is "dialogue." It's a paranoia that the "great unwashed" will gang up on them and take their stuff. But, people sharing thoughts, feelings and information is not only an important part of healthy society, it can bring big profits to those paying attention.

Smart companies, organizations and even politicians have harnessed the power of the people for their own benefit. Regular Joes are willing to upload everything from photos to opinions to personal stories on thousands of sites each day. Through this information, they tell companies exactly how they fee…