Luggage is My Life

I've got a Canadian college boasting

Breaking the national habit of humility. I'm so proud.

Give me a break, Mr. J.

Every time your actions asked you, "Stop being selfish," you answered, "Not ready."

We are not the sum of our actions. We are the sum of our selfish moments. Which can extend to lifetimes.

Life in this lane

What book MOST helped you?

LinkedIn Group: Readers of The Nonprofit Quarterly
Discussion: As a nonprofit leader, what book has helped you the most understand how to succeed in your role?

'I agree there are terrific books out there to help with our organizations, but to ensure that we are using "best practices" two of the best are Strategic Fund Development by Simone Joyaux and Keep Your Donors by Simone Joyaux & Tom Ahern. These are bibles for me.'

Simone is the Old Testament. I am the New Testament.

Beekeeping the other hive

That's me in the "silly suit so I don't get stung." This hive is other and older and more "natural." A lot of bees die. Jonathan is on the case.

These are the T's that sold

These are the "statement shirts" people bought. See a pattern? Tell me! Can't read something? Oh, sweetheart, click the image. A bit fewer than 50% of them will GROW!!!

I don't do readings of my poems

I do visualizations.

Let's go to Pittsburgh

What she wore. The Mark Twain House, rendered by Legos; at our departure airport, Bradley, outside Hartford, CT. Landing in Pittsburgh, where dinosaurs once ruled, and an oil-and-gas boom lights up the future. To participate in the 2012 Emerging Philanthropy Conference, co-sponsored by the AFP of Western PA abd the Pittsburgh Planned Giving Council.

The perfect hostess gift?

Simone suggested cut flowers. Connie saw a bouquet at Whole Foods that caught her eye. This is floral opera. A tragedy. A drama. An emotional truth expiring on our lips.

Preparing "Frieda's Beef Stew" for Connie and Terry, on an unseasonally cold night. A good one-pot dish from my favorite cookbook. Served with oven-roasted asparagus. And a "by the book" Tom Collins, with fresh squeezed lemon juice. Tom is Terry's favorite mixed drink. There will be no scurvy among this crew after tonight. I learned from Terry, the international earthquake expert, that, YES, in fact, fracking DOES cause earthquakes. No debate among geologists; they've known that since the 1960s, when the first experiments were run. Fracking causes earthquakes both easily and predictably. I learned that Connie could not bring herself to smother her mother with a pillow, even though her mother desperately wanted to die.