“The act of putting pen to paper encourages pause for thought, this in turn makes us think more deeply about life, which helps us regain our equilibrium.” ~Norbet Platt
Ahoy! Holla! Hola! Oh my fucking hell, what day is it? The fine people of Apple still have my laptop in some special laptop triage where it will soon be bandaged up and given back to me with a brand new hard drive. Which is fun because it’s like starting over again. I’m ignoring the fact that I will have to sift through an external drive to find the things that I want/need again. Instead I will appreciate that I was smart enough to use an external hard drive. Joy?
Oh and then there was NOLA. Which is where I’m supposed to be headed [looks at wrist] as we speak but I am not headed there due to weather and other circumstances beyond my control but that’s ok because this means I can get shit done around the house. The things that I have been ignored in my absence. Like the cat who keeps pawing my face and kneading the fleshy parts of my body as if to say, “It’s YOU! You’re really here!” He’s missed me.
A digression: Do you see how I’m being optimistic and finding the opportunities in rather shitastic situations? Isn’t that so very refreshing of me?
Anyway, upon receipt of my laptop and the reinstallment of photo editing software there will be photos from Houston. It was lovely and perfect and wonderful and all of that ooey gooey goodness one might expect from being around smart women who want to do great things. Also, I’m aching without my laptop. I’m aching with the need to write and vent and divulge. It’s a feeling I’ve been missing over the last few months as my life has been on a constant spin cycle. I’m happy to have that part of me back.
Do you see that photo above? Karen took it. That’s how I’m feeling right now. A little saucy. A little wily. A little ready to be back to my old tricks.
Just a thought
“Whenever it is possible, a boy should choose some occupation which he should do even if he did not need the money.” ~William Lyon Phelps
Sometimes I forget how lucky I am and I shouldn’t but I do. Like this morning when I was walking across Capitol Hill in DC and I noticed how genuinely happy and impressed by our nation’s capital they all were. This month I have four trips to Washington the thought of which throws me into a grand tizzy with dramatic facial expressions and hyperbole. While I’m having a melodramatic moment there are hordes of people who come to Washington thrilled to be inside the beltway in this ‘seat of power’. I walk past folks whipping out their cameras to capture this memory and realize that I need to tap into my wealth of luck more often and learn to appreciate things. A novel concept, I know.
All of that said when I was in Houston for Mom 2.0 I did two small roundtable discussions on how parents/people in general can involve themselves in the political process. If there is one thing that would make my heart burst it would be for people to love politics as much as I love politics. Because, you guys? I love it so very much. Anyway it was the past conversation at Mom 2.0 coupled with walking through the House office buildings that led me to another thought:
Let’s say that there is an issue out there that affects the masses. And I’m going to use workplace flexibility as the issue because a) it affects everyone and b) because the blogosphere has been abuzz on this issue. I’m going to present this issue because while I am trying to be more positive and appreciative, I am also trying to look at things from different angles. For example the White House doesn’t necessarily write policy. They drive it of course and help to influence what goes on legislatively but it’s congress that writes the laws. The White House can hold 156 forums but if Congress isn’t fully engaged then you get nothing.
So with workplace flexibility and since it’s a labor issue I think of those who have the most invested in what happens in the workplace; the labor movement. Now is the time when someone will tell me how God awful unions are and they’re corrupt and blah blah blah but I can unequivocally say that they’re a force to be reckoned with. Not only that but they are the gold standard for workplace flexibility; they are what the Department of Labor and the White House want for other businesses to achieve when it comes to this issue.
In my head – a little utopia – I could only think; If you have a workplace problem why not go to AFL-CIO (the umbrella labor federation)? Or join forces and go to a member of congress? Preferably a member of congress on the Ed and Labor Committee on the House or the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee member in the Senate? Because that is what I would do: I would join forces – which sounds so hokey but it works – with others in the same boat and I would lobby the shit out of members of congress. I would find members who are amenable to my cause and those who might be against and I would fax them and write letters and let them know that workplace flexibility is a huge problem in what is the most advanced nations in the world. I would tell them that workers fear for their jobs when their kid gets the sniffles. I would tell them that work/family balance* is laughable. I would say that people should be able to have better control over their lives and that setting a national standard is the best place to start.
Anyway, this is just a thought. A long, rambling thought. But yeah, that’s what I would do.
*Great post on this issue from Huffington Post here