Author Archives: Sheryl Checkman

About Sheryl Checkman

Sheryl Checkman is an award-winning designer with more than 25 years' experience in applying innovative yet pragmatic solutions to the full range of communications and design challenges. Before opening Checkman Design, Sheryl was Vice President & Manager, Design Services, for the public relations agency Burson-Marsteller from 1981-1992. Prior to that she was an Art Director at the The Barton Gillet Company, a marketing communications firm. Sheryl graduated from Cornell University and attended a Masters program in Communications Design at Pratt Institute as well as a three-month design program at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. She graduated from the High School of Music & Art in New York City. Sheryl is an avid skier and scuba diver. She swims, plays tennis, practices yoga and enjoys taking pictures, both above and below the water. She adds her creative signature to her photographs by creating Digital Fine Art which she currently exhibits in her online gallery. She recently launched a line of inspirational sports-themed T-shirts under the name Life is Balance®. In addition to her design work, Sheryl also creates custom photomontages for a variety of corporate and consumer clients.

Get Out and Vote

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If anyone is out there reading this blog I implore you to get out and vote on November 4th for Barak Obama and Joe Biden. The alternative is just too frightening to imagine. The thought that Sarah Palin could end up a heartbeat away from the Presidency should be enough to get even the most apathetic citizens into the voting booths – one would hope. I for one intend to cast my ballot for the democrats (not a big stretch for me, I’ll admit, since I am a tried and true democrat. But, hopefully even the republicans will see just how dangerous it would be to have McCain & Palin in the White House.

Aside from her lack of knowledge of national and international affairs, her stand on environmental issues is less about protecting the environment than protecting her own interests. Here are just a couple of her positions:

• She filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne’s decision to list the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

• She issued a statement of opposition to a ballot measure that would have provided added protections for salmon from potential contamination from mining, an action seen as crucial to its defeat.

• She wants to prevent Beluga Whales from being listed as endangered.

• Global Warming: She apparently does not believe that the shrinking of the summer sea ice in the Arctic is human-induced or any cause for alarm

• She approved and expanded Alaka’s aerial predator control program which shoots wolves from the air and hunts bears from the air and kills them upon landing.

• Palin aggressively opposed the “clean water initiative” on the August ballot in Alaska (which then failed), favoring instead foreign mining company desires for fewer government regulations controlling their toxic effluent into salmon streams.

• She refuses to push Exxon to pay the goverment for the unanticipated environmental injuries from the 1989 oil spill. 20 years later the case is still unresolved while Exxon gets record profits from Alaska.

• Her admiistration has not approved any money to improve shipping safety through the Aleutian Islands.

The future of our world, our environment depends on NOT electing McCain & Palin this November. Please support Barak Obama and Joe Biden for the sake of the planet.

I’ve added some pro-Obama t-shirts to my shop, one specifically for scuba divers. Please take a look and show your support.
These images can be found at Wear My Dive Art!

Facebook Block

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It’s a rainy Saturday afternoon so I’m doing laundry and trying to catch up on all the errands that I can’t get to during the week. I was sad to hear about the passing of movie great, Paul Newman. He’ll be missed by millions.

I’m really pissed at Facebook. They have blocked me from sending messages and adding friends for an undetermined amount of time. This happened with no warning (although they do say in their FAQ that they warn you before blocking. There is no outlet within Facebook to contact the administrators to question their decisions. Apparently I was sending the same message out too many times. What I was sending was a post about a contest that American Express was holding to give money to the charity that gained the most votes. My post was on all the scuba related stores on Facebook asking that they vote for saving the sharks on Cocos Island. I did not know any other way to get this message to the most divers and I didn’t know that Facebook considers this wrong. Had they just told me I would have stopped. Now I cannot send any messages, post to any walls, or add any new friends. They say it is temporary but there is no indication as to when this “penalty” will be lifted.

Am I the only was that is frustrated by the lack of ability to contact the administrators of Facebook?

Well anyway if you are interested in helping the sharks on Cocos Island go toThe Members Project and vote for them. You must be an American Express card holder to vote. Thanks.

Sorry for the FB rant but I am frustrated.

A Magical Dive

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On my last dive trip to the turks and Caicos (I go there a lot) I had a very special last dive. I was swimming along thinking how nice it would be to end my 10 days of diving with one more turtle sighting. Within seconds of that thought I saw my dive buddy Alain give me the hand signal for turtle. I couldn’t believe it! This sea turtle swam with me for several minutes, eating up all the video space on my camera’s SD card. It was so beautiful to experience until he got stuck within some coral. I watched while my dive buddy gave the poor guy an assist after which he swam for the surface to catch a breath of fresh air.

There really is something to the concept that the universe will give you what you ask for if you only put it out there. Now I think I should have been wishing for mantas all week!