Celebrating 19 years of sobriety today. (Still can't wrap my head around that.)
Doing NaPoWriMo, but keep in mind that, as always, I'm a first-draft kinda gal. You can find them over on the poetry blog.
Thanks for your kind comments on the April 1 one. xo
I've been on a sort of self-imposed hiatus from blogging. Wish I could explain what's going on in my life these days, but I just can't...not yet.
I do miss all of you though...and thought I might try doing NaPoWriMo again this year. Thought maybe I could summon up the energy to do a first-draft poem during April. We'll see how it goes. Here's the first one.
I will eventually get back to my blogging life. In the interim, please know that I'm thinking of all of you and will do my best to catch up on your blogs...even if I'm not my old commenting self.
Be well. xo
"They own the bank." Nearly every country now has some form of microcredit, yet it's still not part of the mainstream financial system. Two-thirds of the world's population has no access to a structured financial system because they're "not credit-worthy." Yet the repayment rate among microcredit loans is 98-99%. Kind of shoots that theory all to hell, doesn't it?
In America, at least, we've been shackled by a system that's all about making the wealthy even wealthier. We're bailing out banks left and right, yet the banks are taking those bailout funds and doing with them what they wish. We're bailing out the top of the pyramid when we need to be bailing out the bottom of it. And we don't even need to think of it as a bailout. As microcredit has shown, if we invest even a tiny bit of money into someone's dream, it pays off.
The problem in America, as I see it, is greed, plain and simple. From Wall Street CEO's to consumers hell-bent on buying tons of stuff on credit they can't afford, the appetite for material consumption in this country is gluttonous.
Some are starting to turn the standard profit model on its head. Like this Portland coffee house that's not just going non-profit, it going anti-profit. The four partners are going to keep just enough money to cover their living expenses and give any remaining profit to local charities.
Free is now the new black. More and more, artists, musicians, writers, filmmakers, media companies, etc. are giving away product in the hope that consumers will later buy something else. It seems counter-intuitive at first glance, but it seems to be working for a lot of folks. As Martha Beck says in Steering by Starlight, "...as they never told you in school, last things first." Free is no longer the last resort, it's the first step.
We have so many FREE social media tools available to us to get the word out about whatever kind of life/work we want to be living/doing. It's time the bottom of the pyramid got to speak up. The old models are broken, and those who are going to thrive in the coming days are likely to be the ones who are willing to leap into big change, creating new models along the way.
National Geographic has an upcoming television special about Air Force One. Click HERE to watch a very cool preview.
Thank you for all the kind birthday comments and wishes. My birthday "poe-tea" was a bit of a bust in some ways. The only ones who showed up with poetry were Kayla, my 18-year-old niece, and me. And she brought one she'd written, which I thought was very brave of her since she didn't know most of those attending. There were a few other poems shared with me and I'll get all of them posted to the poe-tea site and link here when that's been done. It made me realize (yet again) how intimated people can feel around poetry. I know that first-hand, of course, since I felt the same way until a few years ago. The fact that Barack Obama is having poet Elizabeth Alexander speak at his inauguration gives me great hope that poetry will have a place in our national conversation in the coming years.
Sorry for the gap between posts--last week was a busy one. Maybe I can make it up to you a teensy bit by sharing some video clips of Jeffrey playing with Kevin Eubanks of the Tonight Show in San Francisco on my birthday weekend.
Here's Kevin taking a solo with Jeffrey on drums. That's Mike Finnigan on keys--he's played with everyone.
Here's J's drum solo...
A great Bay Area singer named Earl Thomas opened the shows. If you get a chance, check him out...here's just a tiny bit...
This weekend is all about savoring the joyous moments leading up to tomorrow's inauguration. It's been a LONG time coming. And now here we are, right on the brink...of hope and greatness.
When I learned a few days ago that Jeffrey has a rehearsal after he gets off work today, I planned an impromptu tea meet-up at a Starbucks here for later today to celebrate my (gasp!) 54th birthday. I asked attendees to bring a favorite poem to share, if they like. I'm calling it a "poe-tea" and I invited people via a blog post here.
If you have a favorite poem you'd like to share with me on my birthday, feel free to leave it in the comments on that post or here on this one. My plan is to post any poems that are shared with me today on the poe-tea blog.
When I put away the Christmas decorations this year, I kept out a string of lights and draped them around my desk area. I love to sit in the early morning dark and write by twinkly lights.
One of the birthday cards my folks sent me says, "You are still a hottie...even if it comes in flashes!" In fact, I'm having a hot flash as I type this. So picture a hot-flashing woman sitting at that twinkly-lit desk and you've got a pretty good idea of how my birthday's kicking off. ;)
Jamie Ridler's blogging book group for 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women kicks off today. Check out the Secret #1 post here. And as a special treat, Jamie's doing audio interviews with some of your favorite bloggers over the course of the 12 weeks. The first interview is with one of my faves, Jenn Lee, of Life Unfolds.
None of the bookstores in my surrounding area had Gail McMeekin's book in stock, so I've ordered it from Amazon...but even they were out of stock until today. So it'll take me a few days to get my post up for Secret #1, since I don't have the book yet. Jamie said she's got at least 100 signed up to be part of this blogging book group which is really exciting. If you want to join along, just email at jamie (at) openthedoor (dot) ca to tell her you'd like to sign up.
I'm looking forward to seeing what 2009 will bring, and am happy to be starting off my year with this wonderful group.
If you'd like to see how I ended my 53rd year, check out the Flickr set here...Ciara (she's still on Winter break this week) and I took a trip to our state capitol yesterday. ;)
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