The only thing better than one blog...

Is a second blog! Since I update this one so frequently (insert sarcasm and guilty feelings here), I've decided it's time to expand. Luckily I won't be the only one handling blog numero dos-- this one will be me and fifteen or so of my bestest GlobalGiving buddies.

Last week was the official launch of GlobalGoodness-- I've cross posted what I wrote for today, but you can also check out previous posts from my fellow GG all stars Mari, Dennis, Donna, and Kevin.

Enjoy!

Over the river and through the woods…

As Thanksgiving approaches, I can’t get these holiday carol lyrics out of my head. Working on the project team at GlobalGiving, I have the privilege to work with the amazing project leaders and innovative organizations that list their work for funding on our website. This also means I get an up close and personal look at the challenges our partners face on a daily basis. Here is one description of the journey to send an e-mail in Malawi:

“Well, first I leave the school and hop on my bicycle. After riding my bike for two hours over dusty, bumpy roads, I arrive at the internet café. Then I write out my e-mail carefully by hand and give it to the owner. Assuming the internet isn’t broken that day, he logs on to the only computer in the village and sends the e-mail for me.”

Rather than braving the river and woods to get to grandmother’s house, each day our project partners face challenges ranging from lack of electricity or internet connectivity, natural disasters like floods and earthquakes, health crises including malaria and HIV/AIDS, non-existent transportation infrastructure, or unstable political environments. Tasks that seem like no big deal to those of us in the U.S.—sending an email, turning on the lights, making a phone call—can be time consuming and difficult. With all of these challenging circumstances it’s a wonder that anything gets done at all!

But the most exciting part of my job is that not only is stuff getting done, our partners are tackling the most difficult challenges our world faces right now and achieving great results. It’s a testament to the determination, creativity, passion, and insight of the projects listed on GlobalGiving that each day I get to read updates from the field like this:

“The Roteang Village children have nearly completed the immunizations…” from "Provide 570 Children with Lifesaving Vaccines" in Cambodia.

“One of our a pioneer teachers at Nyaka told me last year that because of his job at Nyaka, he has been able to buy land, take care of his twin sons and daughter, and take care of his aging mom and dad…” from "Nyaka School for Children Orphaned due to HIV/AIDS" in Uganda.

“Through these two projects, we secure transportation and safe passage for women who are fleeing their homes to reach the shelters or other refuge…” from "Safe Houses for Iraqi Women" in Iraq.

Whether arriving via the back of a bicycle, the dusty Indian mail service, carrier pigeon, or solar-powered dial-up email, project updates keep donors informed about all things (good and bad) going on with the project on the ground. Clicking “submit” isn’t the end of a donation to a GlobalGiving project—it’s the beginning of an adventure!

From this blog to God's ears

So roughly 10 hours since my last post, it's dropped to 65 degrees and a steady rain is falling, convincing me that my blog is basically a direct hotline to the (wo)man upstairs. I'll take requests for future posts via email, so send me all your most important requests ;)

Fall. And rain. Stat.

It's hovering near 80 degrees as we approach 10pm the last week in October. I'm sweating, contemplating turning the air conditioning on just so I can fall asleep in peace. Brian is hiding out in the basement with his dad so I can't even sedate myself with bad reality television, my uber cute jack-o-lantern has shriveled and molded on the front porch, and California is going up in flames before I even have a chance to get turned down by those fancy grad schools I think about applying to.

To steal a phrase from Alan, where the eff is fall? Cool, crisp, beautiful leaves? Maybe some rain while we're at it? Jeebus.

If you're looking for a wicked smaaaaht blog post (and not just me complaining about being hot) check out Eli's take on my take on Triple Crown Winners. Not only does her post beat the crap out of mine, her BoSox beat the crap out of my Indians too :(

How many more weeks til basketball season???

Summer camp, but with more gin and tonics

I spent a blissful weekend out on the eastern shore of Maryland (Chestertown) with four wonderful college girlfriends (and yes I know it's Tuesday night, and I'm no longer in weekend bliss mode because I've worked two days and am now stressed). But back to happy Chestertown...

We gathered for a birthday celebration (Happy birthday to Ann!) but quickly found many more things to celebrate-- new jobs, recent engagements, successes at work, completed tests, new cities, and finally (finally!) that crisp, cool fall weather I've been waiting for. Although we were in Chestertown for just a little over a day, it felt more like summer camp than a weekend escape. Amidst all the serious grad schooling, wedding planning, re-locating, social impacting, and Big Life Decision Making, we also filled our days with bike rides (no hands!), candy corn, pumpkin patches, delicious meals, giggling at the Office, and lazing on the porch looking out at the Chester River. Time slowed down and it felt like Canada, complete with cocktail hour on the deck courtesy of Dr. Collier and his famous g and t's.

Although we all kept apologizing for not keeping in better touch, getting back together made me realize how lucky I am to have these fabulous ladies in my life in the first place-- and that we are the kind of friends that don't need to talk on the phone every day to stay close. I was inspired (between the Sikh wedding planning and the UNC friendships) to dig up this blog post from a few months back-- one of my favorites from a Carolina blogger I stalk and a much more beautifully written ode to college friends than I could ever write!

Video from Nepal

Thanks to the Global Fund for Women's fall newsletter, I found this video about Lucky Chetri and the Three Sisters Trekking Company in Nepal (I blogged about them after having lunch with Lucky this summer). It's short, sweet, and sure it give you mountain envy...



Prior to receiving the newsletter I wasn't aware that Lucky was a GFW grantee and it reminded me of what we call "triple crown" syndrome around the GG office-- individuals or organizations who are Ashoka fellows, and Skoll grantees, and Tech Laureates, and Schwab fellows, etc. While I don't want to begrudge awards and funding to amazing organizations, it can feel a bit like a fraternity or country club-- once you cross a certain threshold, the privileges and riches just keep piling on and it's the same folks at the award galas and grantee conventions and featured in newsletters.

At the same time, I spent a few days in September at a Guidestar International conference talking about sharing due diligence, building systems that feed off each other, and reducing workloads for NGOs as well as foundations. How can we create scalable systems that drive more resources to high impact organizations, while also extending our reach into grassroots community organizations and surfacing the best new ideas to reward alongside the pedigreed triple crowners?

Life, by the numbers

It's been a head-spinning six weeks or so, and besides the most obvious number (0, that would be blog posts) I filled some time on a flight counting various aspects of recent life.

6: countries visited...yes, I'm counting the layover in Ireland :)
13: airplane flights
2: weekends with my grandparents, who retained their spots as the funniest people I know. After a particularly funny dinner in Canada Brian and I decided we would have paid at least $15 or $20 just to listen to them talk for a few hours. I think they should take their show on the road.
8 and 1: sandwiches and jars, respectively, of pimiento cheese fed to us by the aforementioned grandmother (see the almost empty plate on the deck). Yes, she still hand cranks it, no, it's not just a southern food, and yes, it's awesome.
1: shoe theft witnessed on the overnight train from Paris to San Sebastian. I watched this old guy putting on a pair of shoes in the next row and walking off...turns out they weren't his! And he stayed on the train, wearing the stolen shoes! Even the not so swift French train police could crack that case, and our train neighbor got his shoes back.

3: tapas bars in one night in San Sebastian, Spain.
We thought that was pretty good until we saw the Spanish grandmothers and toddlers staying out late into the night while we stumbled back exhausted to the hotel. I blame the 1 L of sangria consumed at tapas bar #1.
2: weddings. Congrats to Mary and John Pitts and Kate and Peter Devlin!
25: relatives, roughly, at Koopers Tavern for a post-wedding brunch in Baltimore. My ukelele playing uncle put on a show which was great, until Brian and I realized after singing Old MacDonald Had a Farm with the dancing little cousins we might not be able to show our faces at Koopers anymore...so long, favorite crab dip. You haven't been the same since they stopped serving you in a bread bowl anyways.

38: points in touch football scored in our first Baltimore Sports and Social Club game for a dominating victory. Brian is the QB and I'm the "hiker" which I much prefer to being called the center.
34: points scored by Appalachian State to beat Michigan in the Big House! Although I've talked plenty of trash about NC football being weak, I'll take that victory any day. Buckeyes are still undefeated.
20%: historically low voter turnout in the primary race for Baltimore mayor, which Sheila Dixon won. She did re-pave our street (conveniently 5 days before election day), but we're also on track to hit 300 murders for the year so not so sure she was my first choice...
1: angry cab driver chastising me for not voting. I am a bad person...or just a person who works in a city 50 miles away, gets on a train at 7:15 and returns on the train at 7:40 and shares a car with her husband and can't get to the polls. I am still feeling the civic duty shame spiral, which I might try to make up for by reporting for jury duty Nov. 17.

Numbers are an easy way to explain the exhaustion, lack of communication, and multiple bouts of illness over the past six weeks, and they are also easier to calculate and process than all the emotional highs and lows that I'm still wrapping my head around. The idea of staying put for the next 6 weeks (well, except for that pesky daily commute) is pretty appealing right now-- an unusual thing to feel as I'm usually game for any kind of travel, anywhere, to do anything.

Lately I'm also feeling more acutely the seemingly quickening pace of life and time passing...maybe it's being married to a schoolteacher and all the flurry of activity that back to school time brings, or maybe it's working at an organization where 40% of our business can happen in the last month of the year due to holiday donations. Staring these next few months in the face feels exciting but daunting at the same time! Brian and I were running errands a few weekends ago and walked past a young couple pulling a stroller out of the trunk, re-assembling it, pulling the baby out of a car seat along with all the gear...we looked at each other and laughed thinking the exact same thing-- it's at least a few more years before we're ready to tackle that challenge. As B said, sometimes getting the dishes done every day feels like a big deal, so how on earth do you add another human (or hell, even a dog) into this crazy mix and survive? Then again, I did get sucked into watching 3 episodes of Beauty and the Geek (that would be my reality TV shame spiral to accompany my voting failure shame spiral) so something tells me I have more free time than I think I do...

From the Wire to the Walters (and Hampden in between...)

I should probably turn over authorship of this blog to the lovely Collier sisters-- both because they might be more diligent about updating it frequently, and they've also inspired the past two posts.

Last weekend I was invited to an art exhibit at the Antreasian gallery in Hampden where Katherine has a painting in the "Summer Nudes" exhibit. It was a great summer night, with lots of folks spilling out onto the sidewalk on the Avenue and many beautiful paintings, photos, and sculptures to admire. Go check out the exhibit if you're near 36th, and if you go in the morning have breakfast at Golden West Cafe next door and order the most amazing french toast I've ever tasted!

On Saturday we continued our arty adventures at the Walters Art Museum in Mount Vernon to see the Gee's Bend Quilts. I'd never heard of these quilts before last weekend, but it was probably one of the most exciting experiences I've had at an art museum. The quilts of Gee's Bend (an African American town in rural Alabama) were discovered a few years ago and have been amazing audiences at the Whitney and museums around the country ever since, and the women quilters are now heralded as masters of modern art. The colors, patterns, and use of unusual fabrics (denim work pants, fuzzy knees and all!) are truly stunning. The civil rights story of Gee's Bend is equally interesting-- after Martin Luther King Jr. spoke in Gees Bend in the 60's and residents began taking the ferry to the county seat to vote, the ferry was shut down, effectively closing off the town's access to the outside world. Luckily the ferry service was reinstated (wait for it, wait for it)...in 2006, FORTY YEARS later!!

The quilts are only at the Walters through August 26 (admission is free) so get over there while you can. Apologies for the awkward exhibit poster photo-- pictures weren't allowed of the actual quilts.

As for me, I'm naturally blogging to delay packing for a trip-- the hubby and I are off to chase Hemingway (Hemingway's ghosts?) around France and Spain, so I'll be in Europe til end of August. Au revoir!

Real life Omar!

Check out today's article in the New York Times about the real man who inspired the character Omar (aka my all time favorite) on The Wire-- an amazing story. Thanks to Miss Collier for the tip!


BALTIMORE, Aug. 2 — Donnie Andrews was a stickup man with a .44 Magnum who robbed drug dealers and was sentenced to life in prison for murdering one of them.

Fran Boyd was a heroin addict who shoplifted to get from fix to fix, passing her stupors in the shooting gallery and stash house that once was her middle-class home.

Their separate stories of decline into drugs and violence are nationally known: Mr. Andrews was the inspiration for the character Omar Little, a ruthless thug who stalks dealers on the HBO series “The Wire.” Ms. Boyd was the protagonist of “The Corner,” an HBO miniseries that chronicled her fall into addiction.

But the story of their shared redemption is less widely known. On Aug. 11, they are getting married after a lengthy courtship that was as much about turning their lives around as it was about finding each other. Over a decade in the making, their union is a source of inspiration for the grittier parts of West Baltimore, where few people who end up on the corner using and selling drugs manage to break free, and even fewer return to make a difference.

Click here for full story...

It's here! (Subtitle: Excuse me while I dork out for a minute)

It's finally here! A new flavor of frosting ice cream, or perhaps the 4th season of The Wire on DVD you might ask? Even better-- the long anticipated re-launch of the GlobalGiving website. And to quote everyone's favorite heiress, it's hot.

Awesome colors, more featured projects, a dynamic homepage, cleaner navigation and browsing...I warned you I would be dorking out. And one new feature I've already put to use is a super cute badge right on this blog (for a good time, click on the rainbow in the top right corner). Tons of badges to choose from-- get one for your blogger, typepad, facebook, etc here.

And just 'cause I love the new site doesn't mean that you agree, so check it out and let me know what you think-- we're going to continue adding more features and improvements so would love to hear feedback from anyone slightly less biased than someone who works there :)

In the meantime, I'll be sitting at work hitting refresh just to watch the pretty pictures change.

UPDATE: I'm not the only one dorking out over the new GlobalGiving site-- check out Katya Andresen's Nonprofit Marketing Blog. She even has before and after screenshots!

UPDATE # 2: On Philanthropy jumps on the bandwagon too!

BOP Strategery

Ever since reading C.K. Prahalad's book "The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid" back in 2005 I've been intrigued by the concept that companies and governments should treat the poorest of the poor (generally those living on less than $2 per day) as potential customers and entrepreneurs instead of just victims of hopeless, grinding poverty. Through product and service innovations, companies can tap into a multi-billion dollar market, make profits, improve the lives of the poor, and everybody goes home happy! Woo hoo!

However, I can't shake the nagging feeling that like microfinance, BOP is just the latest sexy idea in international development that's a little too good to be true. Not that there aren't excellent things happening around the world in both fields, but I feel like everyone is a little to eager to jump on the magical "cure poverty and get rich at the same time!" bandwagon, or citing BOP concepts as the cure-all for everything from famine to global warming to HIV/AIDS. So I was really interested to read a recent interview with Ashok Khosla (founder of Development Alternatives in India) in Alliance Magazine called "BOP too good to be true?"

Some of my thoughts after reading the interview:

• I agree with Ashok that jobs are crucial to lifting people out of poverty, and not everyone was born to be an entrepreneur. The people who got jobs working along Henry Ford's production line are as important in the industrialization and economic development of the US as Henry Ford himself-- and hiring people to produce BOP products (instead of manufacturing them elsewhere and shipping them in for sale) could do twice as much to reduce poverty in those communities.
• His care for the environment and concern about selling disposable products that will further ruin the planet are admirable, but a little ridiculous at the same time...it would take a poor Indian buying a hell of a lot of disposable shampoo sachets to even come CLOSE to the environmental footprint I stamp on the earth each day with my comfortable American lifestyle. In terms of worst environmental offenders, let's start with Europe and the United States before blaming the poorest of the poor.
  
• Ashok comes across as quite arrogant in his claims about what the poor "really need." The beauty of the BOP is that even with tiny incomes, with the right products available the poor have the autonomy to make their own decisions about what they need and improve their own lives. A financial planner might tell me I don't "really need" that copy of US Weekly, but I have the right to buy whatever I want with my income. Who is he to decide which products are "non-essential and wasteful"?
  
• Perhaps the most ridiculous is his argument about bottled water in India. Should everyone in the world have access to clean water and excellent plumbing? Yes. In the absence of said clean water systems, should we NOT sell clean water to people who need it? No no no! Clean water is a huge issue that demands the attention of governments, aid agencies, companies, NGOs, etc etc-- but I think we can't stop getting affordable water out to communities that need it while we wait for the macro solution (yes, even if this means more disposable containers are floating around the universe).
  

Anyways, check out the interview, check out a great BOP site my friend Rob helped create, and chime in with your own 2 cents!

Climb every mountain...

No, Sound of Music fans, this is not going to be a Julie Andrews-related post, although two fun facts before I dig into the hardcore mountaineering business:

1. Edelweiss was one of our wedding ceremony prelude songs (though I'm pretty sure Brian had nothing to do with this pick). What can I say, we met in the Alps...
2. I studied abroad with one of the grandchildren of the Von Trapp family singers. We were teasing her about her last name early in the semester when she suddenly got a very serious look on her face and admitted it was not just a last name coincidence. She spent childhood holiday seasons singing carols at the Von Trapp family lodge and said her grandfather (the eldest) had residual bitterness at being turned into a girl (Liesl) for the film.

I've got mountains on the brain this week after spending my Wednesday lunch hour with Lucky Chhetri, an Ashoka fellow from Nepal. If not her awesome name, or the fact that we both come from families with three girls, I felt an immediate kinship with Lucky because of the work she's doing-- training and empowering women in Nepal as trekking guides for the country's booming adventure tourism sector. After spending two summers as a hiking guide myself (the aforementioned Alps and a bit in Colorado), come June and July I always get a bit antsy and have a hard time sitting still at a desk...so perfect timing to be transported (if only via powerpoint) to the incredible Nepalese mountains!

Lucky and her sisters actually created a business first in 1994 (3 Sisters Adenture Trekking) before creating an NGO (Empowering Women of Nepal)-- interesting because in the non-profit world this often happens the other way around (NGO creates business or social enterprise component for income generation). 3 Sisters and EWN work together to promote and empower women, stimulate economic development, financial and social independence, and courage and leadership for women of Nepal-- opportunities often lacking for women (particularly rural women) according to their website. In 1994 there were no women trekking guides in the entire country, but since 1996 EWN has graduated over 400 Nepalese women from their program.

Participating women go through a one year cycle including mountaineering training, english lessons, apprenticeships, and finally guiding. Over 30% of the graduates have ended up working for 3 Sisters as guides, while some go on to further education (using income earned from guiding to pay for secondary school or college) or jobs in other industries-- no doubt served well by increased confidence and english abilities even if they end up someplace besides a mountaintop. EWN and 3 Sisters are also tackling isues like environmental awareness, child care for women guides while on treks, and rescuing child laborers-- not bad for a bunch of chicks! (Kidding, kidding). Future plans include an adventure tourism training center for women and more technical training in skills like ice and rock climbing.

Lucky and EWN recently posted a project on GlobalGiving which makes it easy to support their work-- click below to make a tax deductible donation!

Training Education for 400 Nepali Women & Children EWN provides practical skill-based training and a paid apprenticeship program to involve women in the country's most wanted economic resources. 400 Nepalese women from 33 districts benefited so far. Theme: Economic Development | Location: Nepal | Need: $60,000

A fellow attendee on Wednesday mentioned another pioneer of women's mountaineering, Arlene Blum, who led the first American and all-women's ascent of Annapurna I back in 1978 (preceded by ascents of Denali and an attempt at Everest-- followed by a traverse of the Himalayas and hiking across the European Alps with her baby daughter on her back). Total. Beast. I cruised around her website, made a note to order a book or two, and found some sweet 1970's era mountaineering photos-- please note the sick Adidas footwear and mildly risque slogan, "A woman's place is on top".

As Omar says on The Wire, "Indeed."

Some love for the universe

Since starting (albeit slowly) this blogging gig, I've been on the receiving end of some great links, shout outs, posts, and comments, and it's high time I returned the favor. I finally got around to adding a links section to the blog, and thought a few friends warrant introduction. Here goes, in order of arrival in Dana's life (I mean, it is my blog afterall):

Despite starting out as high school frenemies (Madame Bellisari's 8am French class will turn anyone cranky), Claire is a fabulous fellow Golden Bear now living in Chicago. I love crossing paths with Claire, whether in person or in the blogosphere...she always has funny stories, interesting projects (crafts!) and travels, and her blog fills the Midwestern hole in my soul out here on the East Coast.

Next up, another amazing Buckeye! Despite growing up in the same state, Emily Reynolds Pierce and I didn't meet until freshmen year at UNC and have been fast friends, trail buddies, occasional roommates, and partners in crime (literally-- underage drinking citations, Chapel Hill Halloween 2000) ever since. Not to mention my girl flew to Ohio from ARGENTINA to be my maid of honor. ERP is an excellent writer as evidenced in her recent post called America's Poorest City: Rise Up! and I'm super excited she's back in 'Merica after a year abroad.

Third, the post-college years-- yes, another Buckeye. I think I met Allan about day 3 of working at an unfortunate Office Space-esque economics research job, and can thank him for keeping me sane all 18 months I worked there. While the term sounds cheesy, he really has a great knack for creating community and bringing people together-- instead of mind numbing data analysis, I look back now and remember coffee club, dollar drafts at Ham's, rafting and skiing trips, cheering on OSU football, and carpools on I40. Allan now lives in Minneapolis and has turned into a beast triathlete.

The first non-Ohioan in the lineup is a woman I owe much gratitude-- Eli rescued me from aforementioned boring job and brought me to GG (which she claims led directly to increased proximity to boyfriend and subsequent marriage proposal). Eli taught me an incredible amount over two years of working together, kicked me in the rear when needed, and even encouraged (forced?) me to start this blog. Alas she's way up north in Maine now but still a great friend and inspiration!

Last but not least is a blog friend via Allan, Adam, who I've never met in person but has a great blog of his own (not to mention leaves great comments). If the midwestern economics background isn't enough, I was convinced we'd be friends in real life when I read his post about planting a beer garden.

Check out their blogs and have a great weekend!

Businesses not necessarily better than non-profits...UNC basketball DEFINITELY better than Dook.

DC summer heat and humidity arrived in force this week and I think melted a few brain cells...or at least has turned me into a lazy blogster. So this post is basically linking to other people's posts, but in these two cases I honestly think they said things more eloquently than I could, on two topics that I care passionately about: non-profits (social sector? independent sector? for-benefits?) and UNC basketball.

First up is the non-profit vs. for-profit debate over at Tactical Philanthropy. While I will be the first to admit that non-profits could learn a thing or two from for-profits, I get steaming mad when people make sweeping judgements implying that businesses are superior to nonprofits in everything-- efficient, analytical, streamlined profit making machines that should really come in and whip these nonprofits into shape. There are great nonprofits that could teach businesses a thing or two, and there are mediocre entities on both sides that no one should strive to emulate (hellooooo, Enron). Check out the great post here.

Second, UNC basketball...ok, this post is really about hating Coach K and Dook but that goes hand in hand with cheering on the Tar Heels, and it's written by a super funny UNC alum whose blog I have been stalking since I read about it in the Carolina Alumni magazine. I love his comparison of the two coaches (K and Roy Williams) and their respective TV commercials:

"In fact, he's (K's) pissed off about the crap he got for the Amex commercial that ran ad nauseum during the 2006 tournament, because Roy Williams didn't get any shit for his Coke commercials this year. Well, Koach K, actually you were in a frickin' Pontiac commercial too, but moreover, your Amex ads were sanctimonious, self-aggrandizing muses on sportsmanship and relationships that, frankly, rang immeasurably hollow to anyone who has seen you in action. Roy Williams held a Coke and told a true story about his mom. What did you expect?"

Definitely check out this post and some great comments that follow.

Happy weekending everyone!

Dana vs. Mary-- the Messick Sister Smackdown

When home in Columbus a few weeks ago, my grandmother told her favorite story about when I was two years old at Easter, and Mary (4 years old at the time) had some plastic bunny. Apparently I sat in my high chair in the kitchen looking sad and announced, "Mary has a bunny. I don't have a bunny."

Whether plastic bunnies or GPAs, 1983 or 2007, big sister and I have always been on the competitive side...er, make that in total, constant warfare trying to beat each other (keep in mind this is coming from the always 2nd place younger sister, so I could also be creating the competition in my head). She was always the smart one in the family and I distinctly remember they day her SAT scores came in the mail...she shrieked and called mom and dad after seeing a perfect "1600" in the envelope, while I promptly retreated to my room and cried for two hours. Did I mention she also won a state tennis championship that year?

The Mary vs. Dana drama is getting played out on a bigger stage tonight (7pm, the deuce) as her alma mater (Rice University) takes on my Tar Heels in the NCAA baseball tournament-- winner goes to the championship and loser goes home! Of course papa Messick had to fuel the competitive fires over email this morning, and made sure to let us know they'd be watching at Gram and Granddads (alas, cable has yet to arrive in the Messick household). I'm taking small pleasures in the fact that Mary had to wear a Carolina blue bridesmaid dress for our wedding. Mwa ha ha ha! Fire up Tar Heels!

Ah, Washington DC

Sometimes I wonder why I spend two hours of my life every day commuting to this crazy place, and sometimes I can't imagine not being here.

On Monday night I went to a graduate school fair at George Washington University, sponsored by Idealist. About five seconds after walking into the big conference room filled with tables, promotional brochures, and 20-somethings milling about I remembered: wait a minute, I hate these things. What the heck am I doing here?

It was made worse by the eager beaver DC crowd of aforementioned 20-somethings...highly educated, aggressive, practically wearing resumes on sleeves in an attempt to dazzle the smiling admissions officers. I got boxed out at the one table I wanted to talk to by some chick in a suit who started asking a question like "If I'm planning to pursue a triple JD-PPA-MBA degree, and I already aced the LSAT, then how should I....." I walked away to avoid the torture of listening to the second half of the question, snagged a couple brochures for the train ride, and reverted to the classic Panic and Leave approach that has served me well since middle school dances. Sigh.

If Monday night was all about crushing my hopes and dreams, Tuesday was about reviving them. Thanks to a facebook tip and a liberal-friendly office, I got to go hear Barack Obama speak at the Washington Hilton! After reading the Audacity of Hope I've been a fan and jumped at the chance to hear him live...pretty cool that after a quick 20 minute walk and breezing through the hotel lobby, I was in the same room as a US Senator and potential US president.

Although no speech connoisseur, I thought it was totally amazing and it brought tears to my eyes. When Obama talks about change, and working together, and hope for a better future it seems real and possible and not even an option to do anything else-- instead of just corny political cliches. Granted it was no serious policy presentation, and there was no Q&A session to dig deep into the issues...but I'll take a "hopemonger" over the current fearmongering White House resident any day. I sat there thinking, I know he is a liberal Democrat, but how could anyone NOT agree with wanting children to have a great education? All Americans getting to go to the doctor? Not killing people for an unjustified war? Protecting the planet we live on? Sounds more reasonable than progressive if you ask me.

Apologies for the not so great photo...the stage was a bit too bright to capture Barack (or was it just his sexy, candidate of the moment halo?) so I had to settle for the jumbotron near our seats.

Not so fun fact-- the Washington Hilton was where Reagan was shot back in the 80s. Can't say that fear didn't cross my mind while listening to Obama...we've come a long way but there are still the crazy racist factions in this country.

Loving Patagonia, and hating plastic bags

It was a joyous day when I found out my favorite company, Patagonia, started a blog-- now in addition to loving their products, stores, environmental ethics, founder, founder's book, founder's son, return policy, and catalog, I can love on some Patagucci blogging. It was no surprise to find out they are fellow compatriots in the anti-plastic bag crusade-- check out their recent post (video included free of charge!) on plastic bags. And after you read that post, read the rest of the blog cause Patagonia is the coolest. Some day I'm going to blog about the day we stumbled upon the Patagonia store in Hawaii during our honeymoon (seriously, it was an accident) and they replaced Brian's raincoat and gave us ridiculous amounts of store credit, allowing us to pay for the presents we got everyone there and still have like $12 left over on a gift card. Amazing.

For your listening enjoyment...

I was going to call this post "All up in your earhole!" as a shout out to the Chapel Hill/Durham rap station my roommate and I listened to in college, but then realized that's probably not so funny for those who never listened to that particular radio station. What a great slogan though! Made me laugh every time. Memorial Day and out of town weddings have made life a bit too crazy for regular posting lately, but here are two fun things I've heard in the last few weeks and wanted to share:

OSI Baltimore heard my prayers and you can now listen to Van Jones's amazing "Be Audacious" speech from an event earlier this spring from their website (or maybe they just read my hastily jotted down notes in a previous post and concluded the world needed to know what Van the Man actually said). If you've got 22 minutes and want to hear some great stories from an inspirational social entrepreneur, click here.

One great benefit of living in Baltimore is being close enough to pick up 103.1, an excellent radio station from Annapolis. I was cruising around in the truck one weekend and heard this song-- well more spoken word with a beat really-- and enjoyed the humor and/or biting social commentary. My favorite line is where he talks about getting asked for money from a homeless guy: " I was about to give it to him and then I thought he was going to use it on drugs or alcohol. And then I thought, that's what I'm going to use it on. Why am I judging this poor bastard?" I feel that way when guiltily purchasing US Weekly-- no, not even People magazine, I'm talking US here-- from the Union Station bookstore on those nights when I need a little mindless gossip to ease the hour commute back to Baltimore. I'm pretty sure I lose any credibility to judge the spending decisions of others when I hand over $3.99 to gawk at baby pictures of people I've never met. In addition to homelessness Lazyboy also manages to cover drug wars, prescription drugs, self esteem, prostitution, obesity, and terrorism all in one song-- the video isn't the best but the lyrics are worth it.

Baltimore highs and lows...

It was a very Baltimore weekend at the Ledyard house-- highlights and lowlights below:

High: the Charm City hits the big time, getting featured in the NY Times "36 hours in..." travel column. I must have been sleepwalking when I gave the author a tour-- he hit all our favorite spots! Blue Moon Cafe, Walters Art Museum, the Helmand, Charles Theater, Brewer's Art, and the Cross Street Market-- read the full article here.

Low: we finally jumped on "The Wire" bandwagon and started watching the first season. Excellent television yes, but the Baltimore crime scene hits a little close to home when those boarded up row houses are a familiar site and our friends love joking about the "ghetto" (aka our surrounding neighborhood) or the flashing blue police lights encountered on the ride to our house. We live on a beautiful tree lined street, filled with nice people, sturdy 1940s row houses, and azaleas...and were woken up a few weeks back by the sound of gun fire followed shortly by the police chopper circling with its spotlight glaring in the windows. I feel caught between wanting to defend and promote Bmore as my newly adopted hometown, while staying in touch with the reality of a city which (despite all the lovely redevelopment) still has its share of problems.

High: a gorgeous afternoon in Annapolis watching the NCAA lacrosse quarterfinals-- yummy seafood lunch with lots of Carolina friends and plenty of beer, sailboats, ice cream cones, and quaint shops.

Low: the Heels lost to the evil empire by about a hundred goals-- and now those bastards get to come to Baltimore for the final four next weekend. Blast.

High: filled up the old kegerator with a solid Maryland brew-- Backfin Pale Ale. To quote our neighbor Katie (one half of our Baltimore twin couple, Katie and Joe, who also lent us season one of the The Wire): "Yum! This makes me want to pick some crabs right now! I think they put Old Bay in it."

If anyone's up for more lacrosse, Backfin brews, or special time in Baltimore-- all will be available again this weekend chez Ledyard. Don't let the Wire (or my mention of gunfire) scare you off :)

I'm not a foodie, I just play one in my blog

Seeing as how I consider assembling prepared items from Whole Foods "cooking", and I'm surrounded by real foodies, I probably shouldn't attempt a food-related post-- but here goes.

First things first-- ice cream. I have to admit I've never seen a full episode of American Idol, and it only mildly piqued my interest when they did a big charity jamboree episode a few weeks back (though some sources slammed them for using pictures of African kids without intending to send any of the $987 quadrillion they raised to said kids), but they do have a new product I can really get behind: American Idol Ice Cream. So far I've tried two flavors and they both rock: Choc 'N Roll Caramel and Take the Cake (it helps that they were both on sale at my friendly Baltimore Giant). And, joy upon joy, they even have a website where you can vote for your favorite flavor!

I just voted for Take the Cake and it's currently in the lead with 33% of the votes! This might make my husband sad, as he nearly dry heaved in the kitchen when he saw me eating it. What's wrong with yellow cake flavored ice cream filled with sprinkles and neon blue frosting? I can trace my love for Take the Cake to two sources-- my wheat allergy as a child, which led my mom to feed me plates full of frosting (no cake allowed) at birthday parties until I was 9 or 10, and Uncle Wiggly's ice cream store in Baltimore that used to have a flavor called Party Cake but then stopped carrying it (I almost threw a tantrum in the store the day I found out). Thanks to American Idol, and the intelligent voters across America, it looks like Take the Cake is here to stay!

The next food bit is slightly more intellectual and much less delicious. Check out this link, which has a super interesting chart diagramming which huge corporations are behind your favorite organic food brands. Coca Cola and Odwalla, Kellogg and Morningstar, M & M Mars and Seeds of Change? It's enough to make me want to supplement my ice cream filled diet with only farmer's market produce...I'm pretty sure those guys haven't been bought out yet.

Calling all creative types...

If you love photos, video, music, animation, collages, montages, or just helping Dana with a fun project (and you all know my idea of creative is making an excel spreadsheet in something besides black) then check this out: www.globalgiving.phanfare.com

Over the past few weeks we've had amazing photos and videos submitted by over 20 of our project partners around the world. From planting trees in Haiti to motorcycle riding nurses in the Gambia, the images and videos are truly incredible-- and these are projects that I work with on a daily basis. Sometimes there just is no substitute for actually SEEING the children in Sudan attending school, rather than reading or hearing about it.

So if this gets you excited too, here's the part where you can get involved. We have the raw photos and video from the projects, and are now recruiting "filmmakers" to assemble the content into great short videos or montages. Submit a video by May 31 and you have a shot at the top prize of a $1000 scholarship (or $1000 donation to a project) not to mention my undying love and admiration for creative talents I missed acquiring in years of art class along the way.

To sign up (or read more about it) go to www.globalgiving.com/filmfest

And if creativity isn't your thing either, you can still earn the aforementioned love and affection by making a donation for Mother's Day and support women around the world. An e-card will still get there by Sunday!

Be Audacious

Last week I attended the Open Society Institute’s Annual Baltimore Fellows lunch to announce a new class of Fellows, awarding funding to social entrepreneurs in Baltimore creating innovative solutions to community problems. From educating children to rehabbing bicycles, the fellows are all doing amazing, inspirational work around Baltimore. While not local to Baltimore, Van Jones (the keynote speaker and last month’s guest editor of my favorite Baltimore mag, the Urbanite) continued the inspirational spirit with one of the more exciting speeches I’ve ever heard. An elderly man at the next table, who needed assistance just getting to his seat, literally pumped his fist at one point during Van’s speech and almost fell out of his chair. While I can’t do the speech justice, I’ll try to paraphrase from the notes I scribbled furiously in the truck after lunch.

First of all, Van Jones is an absolute rock star in the world of human rights, social justice, and environmental activism. Almost any award you can think of, he’s won—Reebok human rights, Ashoka fellowships, Rockefeller Foundation, etc etc. He founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and has been working in Oakland for over 15 years. Being very familiar with the experience of receiving prestigious fellowships, he told the new OSI fellows that it can be the best and worst thing that ever happens to you—because now you’re expected to live up to all those plans you’ve been making and take on the challenging and scary work that needs to be done. He encouraged the fellows, and the rest of us in the room, to “be audacious”. Take the leap and go a little farther than others will or you think you can, and the community will be there to support you.

Van spoke about first starting out, when he and a few friends started an organization to fight against police brutality and improve police-community relations. Friends and family told them their idea was a little crazy, it might not work, and they should definitely not quit their “real” jobs. But they took the leap and literally worked in a closet (probably an ego-bruising experience for a brilliant Yale law school grad), and created a database logging information about instances of police brutality. Through collecting detailed information via their community hotline and rigorously mapping incidents, they found that close to 90% of the brutality cases were linked to ONE officer on the police force. But, just as they found the root of the problem and were ready to take action, they ran out of funding and faced the possibility of closing up shop. Van announced their predicament on the local radio station to let folks know the hotline would be temporarily closed, but they were planning to regroup and make a comeback. A few days later they received an anonymous $50,000 donation and a note that said “Keep going. Keep going.” And they did, and “three smart kids with heart in a closet” drastically reduced police brutality in the San Francisco PD.

Van shared a few other similarly amazing stories from his work, including halting construction of a massive youth “superjail” planned outside Oakland and feeling old watching the next generation of audacious youth leaders take over (“You can’t just launch a campaign! You have to have…have…meetings!).

His most recent work links environmentalism with social justice and poverty eradication, and he spoke with conviction about the power of a new green economy to lift marginalized communities into the middle class. The society that creates disposable products and throwaway resources is the same society that allows throwaway neighborhoods and throwaway children. You can not save the polar bears without also saving the poor, black children in this country! Who do you think will install all of these solar panels? Who will retrofit the old buildings to meet new environmental regulations? The green economy will require labor, and with training and education, a former McDonald’s fry cook could become an engineer earning union wages and meeting demand for new, clean sources of power.

I got chills sitting there listening to him, and I had to agree when he said that “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste.” I hope we can use this crisis as motivation to truly be audacious and not just stop climate change, but maybe tackle public education and poverty too.

Sweet, sweet hypocrisy

A blog I read has a regular post called "Charity Criminal of the Week"-- although I can't promise this will be a regular component of my blog, I'd like to call this one "The Biggest Hypocrites I've Ever Heard of that Are in Positions of Massive Power." Or maybe "Top Two Reasons the Rest of the World Should Hate and/or Distrust America."

My head nearly exploded this morning when I got an email describing the recent resignation of Randall Tobias, who until last week was the head of USAID and director of US foreign assistance. Citing the ever popular "personal reasons", he actually resigned because his cell phone number turned up on the list of clients made public by the DC Madam...yes boys and girls, he was frequenting a call girl service. Although Mr. Tobias claims he was only getting massages (who pays $300 an hour for a massage?), federal prosecutors allege the DC Madam was running a prostitution ring.

Here comes the hypocrisy part--as the top US official responsible for development aid, he was responsible for implementing an ANTI PROSTITUTION PLEDGE preventing organizations working with prostitutes from getting any USAID funding, and requiring organizations getting funding to sign a statement that they opposed prostition. The pledge was opposed by numerous health, human rights, and advocacy groups as sex workers are often vulnerable groups most in need of assistance and are often keys to preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS. While Mr Tobias was spending thousands of dollars on "call girls" in our nation's capital, groups promoting health and economic empowerment for vulnerable women around the world were cut off from funding necessary to do their work. Incredible.

This story comes hot on the heels of the Wolfowitz debacle at the World Bank...taking over as head of the bank with a pledge to fight corruption, he temporarily stopped loans to countries plagued by bribery or mismanagement in an effort to promote transparency and accountability. Yet at the same time, it seems he was involved in securing pay raises, promotions, and cushy trips for his girlfriend (also a bank employee)!! Girlfriend issues aside, he's not been a popular figure at the bank for his reliance on a small circle of aides he brought over from the department of defense, who have taken a liking to striking out phrases like "climate change" and "family planning" from aid proposals. Perhaps Wolfowitz should take a lesson from Tobias and resign rather than fight for a job that no one seems to think he should keep. Or maybe we should just let his girlfriend decide his title and salary.

Where do these people come from? How on earth have they been running the 2 most important official aid institutions in the country? Totally, completely, unbelieveable.

For a more coherent and only slightly less incredulous summary of the situation, check out the "Sex, Lies, and Development" post over at CGD.

UPDATE: I should have known Tobias was a Dookie-- chairman of the board from 1997-2000.

Boston 2007-- the round up

With the marathon safely behind me, at least now I can look back at my last terrified post and laugh...the doomsday weather predictions only sort of came true, which made the race conditions not so bad but the tough/cool points accumuluted high as everyone I knew saw the weather on TV and assumed I was singlehandedly slaying a tornado/hurricane/nor'easter while running.

But first things first: the food.

I've been hearing Brian rave about the North End (and diss Baltimore's weak Little Italy) for at least the past three years, so our first dinner in Boston on Saturday night naturally ended up there. And not just any restaurant in the North End-- it had to be the legendary Giacomo's where the line stretches around the block and the same waitress has been there for decades dishing up superb Italian food. Luckily the rain hadn't started yet, so the hour or so in line wasn't too bad and we kept things cozy with a bottle of champagne from the "connah liq-ah sto-ah". They even came out with a garlic bread appetizer to keep us happy in line!

When our group was finally called inside, it was like stepping into heaven...warm pasta and garlic smells, cozy atmosphere with only a few tables, and an open kitchen to watch the chefs serve up their specialties. I had the butternut squash ravioli with asparagus and a mascarpone cheese sauce, which (only after ordering) the waitress leaned in and said "those are the BEST." And they were. Good music, old friends, amazing food.


Just when I thought it couldn't get better, we went to "Bust Outs" for dessert where they have a machine that injects ice cream into any dessert you can think of. I was literally giggling I was so excited-- it was like a cross between Willy Wonka and the Jetsons. We got ice cream filled cupcakes (topped with chocolate) and shared all around...a sweet ending to a perfect night, and I might have to go back to Boston just to try everything else on the menu.

Sunday the torrential downpours and howling wind started, so we laid low...tested the new rain gear on a short jog, walked around Harvard Square, and cooked a big pre-race meal back at the house.

Race day came bright and early (ok, not so bright...it was still raining) as I woke up at 5:30 after a restless night's sleep. The official shuttles took all the runners west to the starting point in Hopkinton, where we would hang out in the "Athlete's Village" until start time (for me in the 2nd wave, 10:30am). I'm not sure what I was expecting in the Athlete's Village, although it probably involved being warm and dry and with access to water and bathrooms since we would have to wait there for 2+ hours. It turned out to be tents over grassy fields which were basically giant mud puddles, with port--o-potties hundreds of yards away (in the rain). I don't think I'm a high maintenance runner-- I don't have fancy gear, I don't eat GU, and I don't have a strict pre-race routine. BUT, sitting on a trash bag in the rain for 2 hours, with my feet soaked through to the skin, was not my favorite marathon preparation (especially disappointing coming from the most famous marathon in the world!) God bless the lady from California who shared her blankets with me and helped keep me warm for the last hour.

Finally it was time to head for the starting line, and magically the rain started to let up..first slowing to a drizzle, then a drop or two, then not raining at all. It was perfect timing and a much needed optimistic sign as we headed for the race corrals. In the first corral of the 2nd wave, I was not used to being so close to the start or anywhere near to the front of the pack...I think those factors, combined with the race starting out mostly downhill, made for a fast start.

Although it made it difficult on spectators, I ended up really liking the point to point race course. I liked seeing the landscape change, from farms and country houses in western MA, to upscale commuter suburbs, to college campuses and finally downtown Boston. Spectators lined the course from start to finish, and I really felt like I had a destination-- rather than just running in circles for 26 miles. It sounds silly, but running faster makes the miles pass quicker so I tried to keep up the pace-- each mile I could do under 8 minutes meant the sooner I would see my friends, the sooner I could shed the excess layers, and the sooner I would finish this puppy and get home to a hot shower and post-race meal.

My friends Kate and Pete were lifesavers around mile 17-- I handed them extra clothes, they handed me an odwalla bar, and it was a mental lift seeing familiar faces and knowing I was past the halfway mark. Coach Ledyard waited for me at 22 with propel and jellybeans and at that point it was the home stretch...I saw my GG friend Christine at 23, Pete and Ann at 24, and then suddenly it was a mile to go!

The finish line was an incredible spectacle and a relief to see after 3+ hours...huge crowds of fans, banners and balloons, and knowing that it was only a few more minutes to push tired legs to keep running. My final time was 3:24, 5 minutes faster than my qualifying time at Marine Corps.

The rest of the day is a bit hazy...collecting my bag, Brian carrying me down the steps to the T, peeling off socks to see Athlete's Village mud from 7 hours earlier, a canceled flight at Logan and an overnight Amtrak to get back to Baltimore. Friends and family and co-workers have been amazing with all the support and good wishes and online tracking and emails...and while my sore legs are trying to convince me never to run again, the happy afterglow of Boston already has me thinking about my next race :) And last but not least, the two funniest quotes of the weekend:

1. Guy in a bar asks Brian if he's running, he says no, but she is and points to me-- the guy looks over and says (imagine the thick accent): "Who are you, a regular Steve Prefontaine?"
2. Boarding the bus to go to the athlete's village, the bus driver asks if I'm going to win the race. I say that I'll certainly try and she says "Good! Cause I only want winnas on this bus. I'm looking for a winna!"

Rain, with a chance of heavy wind, sleet, snow, and hypothermia

Suddenly this whole Boston Marathon thing isn't seeming like such a great idea. Granted, I'm in full on taper paranoia mode, but the friendly "weather alerts" sent out by the Boston Athletic Association this week aren't helping much.

FORECAST:
The most up-to-date weather forecast calls for a predicted Spring storm on Monday, including heavy rains (potentially 3 to 5 inches), with the start temperatures in the mid to upper 30's. Wind will likely be East (in the face of the participants for most of the race) in the 20 to 25 mile per hour range, with gusts to as much as 50 miles per hour. This will produce a wind chill index of 25 to 30-degrees Fahrenheit.

They go on with a thorough discussion of hypothermia, warning signs, risks, etc...slightly scarier than the one from Wednesday which only mentioned rain and wind! Considering I came home from a windy run one day this winter and announced to Brian that I was quitting the marathon training, wind is not exactly my forte.

Whose idea was this anyways?

UPDATE: I didn't even realize until I posted this that it's Friday the 13th! And the book "The Perfect Storm" is packed in my carry on bag! Suddenly everything is seeming very horror movie like and I'm not sure even the promise of carbo loading in Boston's North End can get me on a plane tomorrow...

San Francisco 1, Plastic Bags 0

Thanks to a tip from Outside Magazine, I recently subscribed to Daily Grist, an eco-news summary that comes out, yep, daily. As a lifelong trash-hater and recycling fanatic, I literally squealed with delight when I read one of the headlines on Wednesday: "San Francisco approves first-in-nation ban on non-recyclable plastic bags." San Francisco businesses alone hand out 180 million of these puppies each year, so you can imagine what the world wide usage is like...the good news is that bans are also in place in South Africa, Bangladesh, Taiwan, and Paris. Next up, Baltimore or Washington DC?

I tried to think back on how I ended up with such a distaste for disposable things like plastic bags and styrofoam cups. I do remember watching my mom doing laundry at a young age and cutting every dryer sheet in half, loudly exclaiming that each load of laundry does NOT need an entire dryer sheet and she would NOT get suckered into buying more of a product than necessary. Stick it to the man mom (those Peace Corps habits die hard). I adopted her philosophy and began re-using my brown school lunch bags (because using a lunch box was way uncool in middle school)...each day after lunch carefully folding it up and putting it in my pocket to take home and pack with lunch for the next day. Only when they bags were stained and literally falling apart did they get thrown in the trash.

In college I got many questioning looks when I told people I was majoring in economics and environmental studies. "But don't those two, like, not go together?" Of course they do! Businesses use resources, resources cost money, and if they can cut their resource use while delivering the same product, they will, ta da, make more profits. Or, if my mom can cut dryer sheets in half and use fewer boxes, she's buying less and going easy on the environment. Each plastic bag grocery stores hand out in San Francisco costs them money and they then provide this product for free to customers and it likely ends up in the trash. They should be thanking the San Fran government for helping them stop literally throwing money away!

My other rant on this subject is the disposable coffee cup-- namely Starbucks since you see the most of those around (in the trash, gutters, sidewalks, everywhere). On a long training run through DC I stopped counting the number of cups I saw people carrying around, and it wasn't even the morning coffee rush! Now I spend a good part of running time dreaming up schemes to get Starbucks to stop using so many cups. Allegedly they do have non-disposable cups for use in the store (though I've never seen one handed out) and they also have a measly 10 cent discount if you bring your own mug (though many cashiers aren't aware of the rule). My best idea at the moment is a sticker with barcode you put on your own mug that lets you accumulate points each time you bring it in, and after a certain number of drinks purchased you get a free one. I know, I know, a store with a highly addictive product does not need a reward system, but consumers need more than 10 cents to overcome the laziness hump and bring their own cup-- and a free drink on the fifth day (free coffee Fridays?) just might do it.

Last, while I've been dreaming up ridiculous coffee mug schemes and feeling like the only person in America who squirms at the thought of trashing a Starbucks cup, I found Bring Your Own, a great resource with both website and blog. At least I'm not the only one dragging a ten year old mug around everywhere I go-- and after surviving the Boundary Waters tornado of '99 together, I think the mug and I have a few more years left in us!

Don't tell my grandparents I'm in Ann Arbor...

Seriously. Growing up as a third generation Ohioan (on both sides of the family), I learned early to bleed scarlet and gray, root for the Ohio State Buckeyes, revere heroes like Woody Hayes (who famously pushed his car across the state line rather than purchase gas in Michigan and give "that state up north" any of his tax dollars), and most importantly, HATE Michigan. I mean, do children in any other state sing nursery rhymes titled "I don't give a damn 'bout the whole state of Michigan?" (refrain: 'cause we're from Ohio, O-H! I-O!) I distinctly remember a needlepoint my grandmother had framed and hanging on the wall that said "Thank God I'm a Buckeye and not just some nut."

I was reminded of these aspects of my childhood recently during the wedding planning process when the most difficult part of finding an agreeable Saturday in Columbus for my family to celebrate the beginning of the rest of my life mostly centered around avoiding the OSU football schedule, particularly home games, and especially (god forbid) the Michigan game. Part of me wanted to pick an important football Saturday just to see what the relatives would have actually chosen (though fear that I would lose to script Ohio and fierce Big Tem rivalries left me marrying on Oct. 21, following the guaranteed victory over football weakling Indiana).

Yet here I am in Ann Arbor for the first time, attending a conference put on by the William Davidson Institute about Global Social Innovations in the Third Sector (the things I do for the love of social enterprise!) It's been really interesting so far, especially sharing ideas and challenges with people from other organizations around revenue generation, sustainability, venture philanthropy, grantmaking, etc. Despite speaking last in the day on a panel that had already run overtime, I (hopefully) managed to speak coherently about the GG model and student contributions.

Conference aside I've been pleasantly surprised by my time in Ann Arbor...the sun came out this afternoon and I had a great run through the UM arboretum, enjoying the spring weather and attempting to keep to a training schedule for Boston. Dinner at Zingerman's was fabulous (as predicted by my coworkers) and merits its own post-- all I'll say for now is the sweet potato fries were the best I've ever tasted and the speech by Ari, the founder, inspiring. The UM campus reminds me a bit of Chapel Hill, and I think it must be the good public university vibe...lots of populist for the people by the people kind of feeling, mixed in with a healthy dose of state pride and leaning a bit lefty/crunchy/hippie. A few things have reminded me that while Ann Arbor reminds me of my college years, it's geographically closer to my hometown Columbus-- the car driver yesterday, when asked about good local restaurants or bars, offered up Buffalo Wild Wings and Damon's (and I promptly had a flashback of being 12 years old post-gymnastics meet and digging in to a Damon's onion loaf, one of the more sketchy appetizers I've ever eaten though delicious at the time). To top it all off, the front desk guy at the hotel reminded me I could get "ice and POP" just around the corner from my room. Thank goodness for the midwest, onion loaves washed down with pop, and bits of nostalgia even in a most hated rival town.

Begin It Already!

Roughly four months after intending to start a blog, here I am writing my first post and finally getting started...yet again at the tail end of another technology frontier but excited nonetheless about a new project! I named the blog "Begin it Now" for few reasons, ranging from the practical to the philosophical:

• I did actually start blogging four months ago, it was just in my head where no one else could read it. So the title is an admonishment to myself to stop procrastinating and do the damn thing, for real, in public.
• After fifteen years of competitive gymnastics, striving for a perfect 10 yet constantly falling short (and getting publicly judged in the process), I'm trying to ditch the fear of failure and mistakes (which usually just leads to procrastination, see above bullet). Hopefully this new beginning will let me experiment and enjoy not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.
• I'm a firm believer in the power of individual action to drive positive change, but this power can only be realized if we overcome inertia to start new things, big and small. I feel like there's a lot of exciting bits and pieces of innovation flying around these days, that when added up can lead to a tidal wave of good stuff.
  

Of course the title is just the beginning, and after four months of internal blogging I've got all kinds of posts swimming around upstairs-- the unavoidable bloggy navel gazing, but also the daily obsessions of work and running, inspirational people and events, sports and settling into a new city, and anything else that crosses my path. I can promise that it won't be perfect, but I hope it might be a fun ride along they way.