Eirinn is now The Face of The Arkansas Agritourism Initiative.  I’m pretty sure that’s a title no one else on the planet can boast about having.

A few days ago I received an email from a professor at the University of Arkansas in the Dale Bumpers College of Agriculture, Food, and Life Sciences (I’m so not making that up).  He told me about a poster he was creating for a series of information sessions he was speaking at regarding agritourism in Arkansas.  He told me he had seen Eirinn’s image on my old blog and he wanted to use it for the poster.

 This one.  Isn’t she the cutest little punkin ever? 

I promptly emailed him back explaining that I was uncomfortable with the idea.  I don’t have a problem with strangers viewing images of her within the context of my writings, but the thought of one of those images being used elsewhere got me a little anxious.  But I thanked him for being so considerate.

I asked for opinions from Anonymous Husband, Carly, my coworkers, and my mom and found that I was pretty much the only one who shared that view.  Given the fact that he was a legitimate professor at a legitimate college (thank you Google) asking permission (he very easily could have just used it without asking - images on the internet not copyrighted are public domain), I had a change of heart.  I emailed him back, stating that out of good faith I would consider giving my permission to use her image, as long as I could see a draft of the poster first.  All this happened in a span of 3.6 minutes.  I may be indecisive, but I change my mind quickly.

The professor sent me a pdf draft this morning and I see that my worries were for nothing.  Her image spans the entire page, at an increased transparency with the text overlapping everything but her cute little face.  And a big splash of “The Arkansas Agritourism Initiative” across the top.  Nothing to be afraid of.  And I’m positive that the people scheduled to see this poster (fellow professors in the field) are far more harmless than the legions hundreds dozens of people that see her face everyday at the top of this blog.

And now she can add “The Face of The Arkansas Agritourism Initiative” to her ever-expanding resume and portfolio.  Not.  Too.   Shabby.