First Paragraph Draft

Some might say we are idealistic hippies in Asheville. This is the first paragraph of my MBA essay:

The year is 2020. Imagine for a moment, a sustainable and thriving global community. Businesses would take responsibility for their products for their entire lifecycle, extracting fewer raw resources and recycling 98 % of the materials from each product sold. Schools would focus on developing the whole child and provide real world opportunities to contribute to their communities in the form of research and innovation. support new ventures; the community would be motivated to work and there would be enough jobs to support everyoneNational. National economies would measure the average quality of life for their citizens as a key measure of success. Daily commutes might be in cars, but might be on bikes, on foot, or via public transportation that is both efficient and environmentally responsible. Neighborhoods would once again be the hubs of relationships and businesses; restaurants would infuse their menus with local meat and produce; pick-up games of baseball would be common on summer nights; downtowns would thrive throughout the year. People would gather in green spaces to eat and play. Building materials that are engineered to be durable, sustainable, and affordable would be standard in construction projects. Dilapidated buildings would be renovated as the economy would demand space for emerging industries. Art and music would weave throughout people’s everyday lives. Technology would be an exciting an integral part of our lives, but we value the connections we make in person. Energy would be renewable. No one would be hungry for nourishing, colorful, and healthy food.

Records

The other day, my 1st grade friend Ben was reading the Guinness Book of World Records.

(Talk about a marketing come-back for this old book... Those folks have glossied up their book with a new creative layout and now all of the kids from 6-10 are looking at long fingernails and other fantastic feats.)

We were sitting on the floor and he got out his Legos. "I have an idea! Tallest Lego tower!" He was very excited.

I said, "Do you think we have enough"
He: "Uh yeah, I have two boxes full."

We checked online to see (it was not in this new and improved book) and Ben was disappointed to see it next to some cathedral 96 feet high. He had these other ideas:

• tallest lego house for a dog (Spot would test it)
• skinniest tallest lego tower (that one fell down when we tried and he said he wished we could glue it)
• most pieces of paper in the mouth (he said his mouth was very big)
• (then, to show how strong it was, he picked up a small footrest with his mouth)
• longest time sitting on a step
• longest time lying upside-down on the top of a staircase
• fastest time running up the stairs and then sliding down on his bottom

He will get a record. Soon.

all well

My interview went well; it was a good conversation and now the work to get an application completed is at face level.

Then a Saturday caving while tightness and cough in my chest and throat and
chills and overheating...

Feeling much better now.

In about ten minutes

I am having an interview for this program.

Breathing.

Generosity

This morning, little Ben told me that I could use his desk if I wanted a place to work.

I might rest my feet on the stool that has on its top the letters BENJAMIN in wooden puzzle pieces.

Maybe I'll look up to his dragon mobile for inspiration.

For now, I'm looking outside at the rain and nestling in this little chair. The dragon, the chair, and I are all glad to be warm and inside.

Thrush

A few weeks ago Doc mentioned a little brown bird: a wood thrush, I think. He described it by its long tail and I had never seen or noticed one.

Now, as I'm sitting and working on a business plan and looking at questions questions questions, it visits me as it hops around low branches outside.

Connor and Tucker are back asleep; they had been guiltily sulking because they knocked over two plants when guarding the house from someone walking by. Connor is underfoot and Tucker is in Roomie's bed. When we first walked into the house, the dogs looked with sideways glances at each other as if to say, "Yeah, you just stay there and away from Katie." They both think they own me. When they both sit on command, I wonder if they think, "How does HE know that word?" What gives, lady?

They don't bark at the little thrush.

Poetry from the Southern Belle

My friend, Rhea, wrote this simple email to me this morning:

"Let’s run a gentle run every now and then in mid-afternoon…"

Refreshing and simple, these words make me want to go out into today's sun.

It feels like FALL today. Are we going back in time?

Above the gray horizon
Above the twigs of deciduous breeze
Above the mist of unsettled sadness
Is a streak of clear blue

Yesterday, we saw a hyacinth in the grocery store
and it reminded us of sprouting life
and of Easter
We bowed to the hyacinth to breathe.
We bowed for the winter.
And when the mist of disappointment and mistake
floated to my eyes and throat,
the hyacinth whispered, "Calm, Calm. All shall be well."

Stiff Shoulders

We went underground last weekend. My shoulders are stiff.

I feel like I am still there.

Scene From Atlanta Bread Company

Time: 2pm yesterday

Place: Atlanta Bread Company on Hendersonville Road

Scene: KD sitting at a high table, computer open, jacked up on coffee. Several middle-aged white men dotted around the room. Most are wearing bifocals and ties. Most have computers or briefcases open. A few other random people in the room include: one guy studying a medical book; a mother with two kids ordering cookies at the counter; a woman feeding soup to another woman who is in a wheelchair.

Enter an African-American man in his 50s who walks with purpose across the room to the counter. He is wearing blue work pants and a navy blue coat. He clutches a few magazines to his chest with one arm-- elbow bent as if his arm were in a sling. The magazine on the outside is Cosmopolitan. When he reaches the counter he says, "Excuse me! Excuse me what time is it?" in a voice that is louder than the quiet hum of computers, coffee, and the occasional, "Order 115 order 115 at the counter..."

The ladies behind the counter hesitate a minute, but then one sturdy white woman says, "There's a clock over the fireplace" with the same volume as Cosmo man. He says, "OH" and walks to the middle of the room to look at it directly.

He then asks the ladies when the next bus comes. They say they don't know. He leaves.

A few minutes later, he re-enters and walks back to the counter before declaring, "I need to know when the next bus comes!" The quieter ladies mumble that they don't have a schedule.

He suggests they call the terminal for him. They say that they can't do it right away because there are customers waiting. He leaves again.

Third time, Cosmo man walks directly up to the sandwich maker and says, "Call the city bus terminal for me. I need to take the bus." She says she will after making the orders she needs to do.

The sturdy woman interjects with his same voracity, "One moment, sir!"

She calls. She says, "3:40 and 4:15 are the next ones." He stands in front of the clock's fireplace again. He walks outside.

When I left for TAASC, he was waiting next to the bus stop sign. He was not reading his Cosmopolitan yet.

Goodbye.

Last year, a friend would always get off the phone quickly by saying in one breath, "okaybye" almost before the other person would be ready to go. I started doing this, Roomie started doing this, and it caught on. Soon everyone was off the phone with a flash.

I was thinking about this today when saying goodbye to Greg on the phone. We have a weird pause sometimes between one person saying, "Okay, talk to you later" and the other saying, "Bye." Maybe I should bring, "Okaybye" to that equation.
...
Pete influenced us in writing "k bai" on googlechat instead of "okay bye."

Tonight I was trying to write "bai," to Alyssa, but instead I somehow wrote, nao. Alyssa responded bai nao, which made me think about how in Thai a word can be a completely different word depending on the intonation. I think I thought about that because it looks like it would be in Thai, "bai nao."

But then if you have a southern accent, it would also fit, "Bai Naaow." Intonation.

Welcome to February, 2009

I had a weekend off from taasc. It was incredible.
The following photos are just a glimpse of the resplendent time.

Other images:

• A woman in a long skirt, flannel-like shirt, and straw hat at Jack of the Wood on Saturday night. She brought her own harmonica to play along with the band that was performing. I remembered some advice that it's not polite to stare.
• A fuchsia colored glove that a woman dropped on Wall Street today. Before she turned to pick it up, I saw it from afar and tried to identify that bright flash of color on the pavement.
• Today's pink, gray, and white clouds that were all at once a gargoyle, a dragon, a pizza baking stone, the Gemini Twins, and a whale. Then, the silhouette of delicate upper branches against a not-quite-cobalt sky.
• Spreading out on cool sheets... morning.