“Does someone pay you?” quipped my daughter this morning as I tried to explain my current self-employed status. She and my son have been on the “does Mom work?” line of questioning over the past week. It is clear to me that they are struggling in their minds to understand my role, or said better, my changed role. Continue reading…
Summer Book Review #13: A Gift from the Sea
I happened upon a cool website yesterday: the Marine Biology Lab in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The piece that caught my eye was a story about a professor from UCSF who has started a web series called iBio; a series of free video lectures and vignettes by the world’s best biologists. There was one story that spoke to my Novofemina side. Continue reading…
Summer Book Review #12: Women in Career & Life Transitions
Do you remember the sock puppet commercial from the early 2000’s? I think it was for pets.com or some other internet start-up. A sock puppet with scraggly hair and button eyes would respond with the phrase, “the horror,” to many missives tossed at it. It was silly and cavalier and – most of the time – just perfect.
The sock puppet’s “horror” voice was in my ear in Continue reading…
Summer Book Review #9: Working Identity
Driving yesterday I heard an NPR story on WCAI, the Cape & The Islands (CAI) radio. They broadcast a show entitled “The Moth” which features audio storybooks of everyday Americans. Their first story really gripped me: an autobiography by Aimee Mullins, a young women who lost both of her legs at birth and has used prosthetic limbs ever since.
Ms. Mullins told a truly amazing story about her life and her various opportunities to touch the lives of others. One was a little girl who also had an artificial limb. At the time Aimee first met her she had been struggling. Kind of ‘just’ getting along – setting no great expectations for herself while locked inside the world’s limited view of her capabilities. Aimee inspired her to re-frame her expectations for herself and for those around her.
At a chance meeting a year or two later Continue reading…
Summer Book Review #7: Steering by Starlight
I asked my eight year old for the name of the diagram that has two overlapping circles. She was hanging on some climbing structure in flip-flops and a bathing suit. I should have been alarmed. Instead I was trying to think of an interesting angle to use to tell you about this week’s book while my two children enjoyed a few moments of their own.
She quickly chirped “Venn diagram” while still scaling the loosely joined swinging steps. My read this week was really a Venn-test. Continue reading…
Summer Book Review #5: It’s Up to the Women!
Last night I happened to catch the tail end of “Invictus,” a 2009 movie starring Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar, a real-life member of South Africa’s rugby team who’s summoned by Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) to rally support in the country and unite the racial divide. At one point Mandela is speaking about inspiration with Matt Damon’s character and says (and I’m paraphrasing), “how do you get people to be better than they think they can be?” In the movie Mandela was seeking to inspire folks to simply forgive after decades of horrid, tortuous behavior that divided South Africa. Decades earlier a first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, penned “It’s Up To The Women,” daring to inspire the ladies of our country at a particularly horrid time for our nation; the Great Depression. Both leaders relied on inspiration to get folks to accomplish more than they thought possible. My summary is the same for transition; we simply need a bit of inspiration. Continue reading…
Summer Book Review #3: The Art of Possibility
I have a friend who uses “barriers” as her most common accoutrement. Maybe you know someone life this? She can’t because… her allergy shots don’t allow her to or she has to finish something important. The litany of reasons grows increasingly serious and worrisome by the year. I couldn’t help but think of her as I read The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander. The authors challenge readers to re-frame our view of “life” so that both real and imagined barriers no longer impede us but give way to energy and focus. The decade old best seller is nothing short of inspirational — a great beach read! Continue reading…
Camouflage, transition & summer plans
I hope you all enjoyed a breezy Memorial Day weekend. We caught our neighboring town’s Memorial Day celebration. The gentleman who spoke was from the Navy; pressed whites, well spoken, a selectman. On Memorial Day he challenged us not to mourn but to live. He recounted that our fallen heroes had sacrificed it all to give us that chance. Live.
So, in a quick quiet moment on Memorial Day I Continue reading…