Our disability - In the words of Patrick Henry Hughes

I was watching one of my guilty pleasures last night, Extreme Makeover Home Edition when I heard some very profound words from a young man who has overcome a lot of odds. There is something about giving these families a chance at a better life that sucks me in and almost every time I see a show I end up bawling at the end --- It never fails!

Yesterday, i watched the show as they built a new house for Patrick Henry Hughes and his family. Now, I had heard of Patrick before. He was in a story on CBS's Sunday Morning program sometime last year. See, Patrick was born without eyes and with only limited ability to straighten his arms and legs. He lives his life in a wheelchair. But despite this, he became a music prodigy. He can play a number of instruments, including the piano, and, with the help of his father who pushes him around into formation, is a member of the University of Louisville marching band, playing the trumpet.

I was expecting to get the normal teary emotional boost I normally get from the show but then, during the pre-construction interview, Patrick explained his viewpoint on his disabilities. He said that he actually views sighted people with the disability because, by not having sight, he is not distracted by physical appearance. He does not know what red, black, or yellow looks like. He only gets to know what a person is like on the inside and that is something that he considers as an advantage.

Wow! Such an eloquent point and a inspiring viewpoint.

On the eve of Super Tuesday (and Mardi Gras but that is not what this is about..)

So, a friend of mine sent me the link to this video and it actually made me tear up!

Inspiring! Please watch and please vote!

I only get one vote, huh?

This past week, I proudly concluded my streak of never watching one of George W Bush's State of the Union addresses. I just can't stand to see what he has to say and the poor and unpolished way he says it. I can't stand his little beady eyes and his little smirkish grin. And what I cant stand the most, what makes me cringe is that people in other countries actually think he represents me in any way!

With that being said, how nice it is to have two democratic candidates that I would be happy to have in the White House, representing me and promoting the things that are important to me! But as I was concluding watching the debate on Thursday, from a policy perspective, i didn't really see much appreciable difference between Clinton and Obama. And the things that he did hold up as differences, who was opposed to the war from the start, some intricacies of their health care reform initiatives, and some points on immigration policy don't seem like that big of differences. Let's face it, almost anything would be better than what we have!

This is truly a historical time and an exciting one! Either a woman or a black man will be the Democratic candidate for president this year. Momentous is that say 100 years ago, neither of those groups were even allowed to vote in this country. I am sure there are many of the older generation who never thought they would see this day in their lifetime. And it is here, and it is exciting. One of the most impressive things about Barack Obama has been his ability to mobilize and engage previously politically disenfranchised sections of the population, namely the youth and black communities. I see my 22 year old cousin actively inspired by Barack and actively involved as a volunteer in his campaign, putting up flyers, attending speeches. Barack likely has some of the broadest financial support of any presidential candidate. He has refused to take money from PACs and lobbying groups and 90% of his campaign contributions have been in amounts of $100 or less! And he raised $23 million dollars in the month of January alone, more than any presidential nominee in history.

I was struck by a question that was asked by a 38 year old woman during the debate which said that she has never had the opportunity to participate in a presidential election where there wasn't either a Bush or a Clinton running. Obviously, this is the same case for me. For 20 years there has been either a Bush or Clinton in the White House! I did like Hilary's response though ("Maybe what we need is another Clinton to clean up after this Bush!") And let's face it, the 8 years of the Clinton presidency were not bad ones. We had a trade surplus, a strong economy and good diplomatic relations around the world. But, I can't assume that similar things would automatically happen with Hilary in the White House. As she likes to remind us, she is not Bill. Hilary says that she has the experience on her side but sometimes it takes impassioned eyes, not exposed to all the seediness and backdoor dealsmanship of the Washington political machine to really get things done.

If I am taking the political process seriously, I can't pick who I want to be president based on who I like better. I should pick based on who is best for this country. As a black woman, I would be happy to see either a woman or a black man as president of this country.

So the long and the short of it is, that am still not completely decided. This is going to be a far more difficult decision for me than the actual presidential election. I guess I will just see who I am feeling most inspired by on Tuesday!

Presidential musings....

I saw a funny bumper sticker the other day that, after I realized what it said, made me chuckle. It said:

Democrats are sexy
Who ever heard of a fine piece of elephant?

So I have been watching the presidential primaries/caucuses this week, especially the Democratic race. Many things have been said in recent weeks about who should or will become president, why this person could, why this person shouldn't etc...

I was listening to the radio the other day and I overheard the DJ talking about a comment posted on the website of a well-respected African-American organization saying something about how if Barack Obama was to become president it would be a step back for the black race because he would undoubtedly be killed in office. Whether he would or not remains to be seen, but I just thought that this was one of the stupidest comments I had ever heard. This is a smart man, he and his family know the potential personal security risk that they are taking by him running for President and making a stand for change in our political arena. And this is a risk that he is willing to make. And which is better for the black race, to ask our leaders to hold back and not aspire to the highest heights so they won't be killed. This also means that they won't be as effective. I don't wish assassination on anyone but part of the reason the those like Martin Luther King Jr are so inspiring to us is because they paid the ultimate sacrifice, and this ultimate sacrifice was what spurred and motivated a greater populace to work and fight for change. It is unfortunate that this has to happen to get people of their butts in protest but lets face it, it really does. There is too much complacency in this country.

I am really puzzled about what the outcome of this presidential race will be come November. It will likely become clearer after the primaries are over. There are thousands of polls being taken across the country to try to predict how and why people are and will vote the way they do. But it possible that the most accurate predictors and most telling polls that anyone could ask could probably end up being the following:

Who would you rather have as president of the United States? A Mormon or a black guy? or..... A Mormon or a woman? (although it is unlikely that you would actually get people to respond honestly.)

I can't wait to see what the results of this election are. We have had enough of Bush (I actually had enough of him in November 2000 but apparently the rest fo a you all didn't!) and it's time for some new, smarter, more articulate more worldly blood in the White House!

Looking for a tax write-off?

Just thought I would take the time to remind all of you that if you are looking for another tax write-off as the year comes to a close, consider charitable giving. Here are a few of my favorite foundations and organizations trying to make a difference (some of these may not be tax-deductible):

Project Red - Working with the Global Fund to provide medication, services and education about HIV and AIDS to men, women and children throughout Africa. In partnership with a number of retailers and manufacturers, varying % of profits from purchases of Project Red merchandise go to Global Fund programs. Partners include Motorola, the GAP, Converse, Emporio Armani, Amex and Hallmark.

Keep a Child Alive - dedicated to providing African children affected by HIV with much needed services and medication. 100% of donations go to directly to their programs.

Make it Right - to help families in the Lower 9th ward in New Orleans still struggling after Katrina.

ReNew Orleans - Purchase merchandise and 25% of the sale price is donated to 3 foundations dedicated to revitalizing New Orleans in an authentic way, Common Ground Initiative, Tipitina's Foundation and Replant New Orleans. Also hear music from New Orleans musicians.

The Humane Society - Donate to help save neglected and abandoned animals across the country.

Heifer International - Donations go to helping disadvantaged families around with world by providing livestock and training to make them more self-reliant.

Kiva - Microlending in a digital age. Make a small loan to a struggling entrepreneur in a developing country and give them to leg up they need on the road to economic empowerment.

So did they really beat Harvard?

So I have heard varying things about whether or not the Wiley College debate team of 1935 actually did debate and beat Harvard University. After looking around it seems that the team did debate the national debate champions in that year but that year the champions were actually the University of Southern California. I guess debating Harvard Crimson makes for a better story....

But, according to the New York Times article, " For Struggling Black College, Hopes of a Revival" (December 5, 2007,) "the film omits one reality: even though they beat the reigning champions, the Great Debaters were not allowed to call themselves victors because they did not belong to the debate society, which did not allow blacks until after World War II."

It also seems that some license was taken in the composition and members of the debate team in the movie. Save James Farmer Jr, who went on to form CORE, the Council for Racial Equality, a integral organization in the civil rights movement, the other characters, Henry Lowe and Samantha Booke, seem to be amalgamations of other team members who competed during the early to mid 1930s.

For more information about the true history of the Wiley Forensic Society, read this linked article in the Marshall News Messenger.

There is no debate....

So if you had read a prior post , you know that my parents and I were planning to go see The Great Debaters on Christmas Day. We decided to go see the first showing and that I would finish cooking dinner afterwards.

Let me tell you, this movie does not disappoint. It was a great story about a group of history making college students who, inspired by a seemingly, slightly eccentric professor, proved that a group of black students from a small liberal arts college in depression-ridden backwater Marshall, Texas could develop the oratory skills to win debate after debate, and also eventually, beat a championship-winning white team.

The movie is just good film-making. Although, a few constructs seem a little too convenient and seem likely to have been the results of a little poetic license, it is a great, inspiring, and emotional story based on true events. I tried to finish my "ugly cry", as Oprah puts it, before the lights went up in the theater. I was somewhat successful....

Before hearing about this movie, I had never heard of Melvin Tolson or Wiley College or their debate team. And after seeing this movie, I can't help but be struck by how many other courageous stories may be out there in our history that we have no idea about whatsoever! I mean, this guy went on to Langston University and taught my mother English, and besides being the Poet Laureate of Liberia, she had no idea about his time at Wiley. It makes me wonder about how many other inspiring and unknown stories are out there.

Bottom line: Go see this movie before the weekend is out!

Don't be shy!

So, when all this stuff was first brewing with my job, I wasn't really talking about it with anyone except close friends. But since it has become official, and the news publicized, I have readily been talking about the layoff when asked. And I have been getting help from the most unlikely sources....

I had mentioned my situation at the place where I take my dog for daycare and the owner asked me to send him my resume. "I am always hearing about things," he said. What the heck!

Also, my aunt called me the other night and said that one person she talked to asked that she send me their contact info and another, who I met before, asked about me when he heard about the news at my company and said that he might be able to find something for me to do at least temporarily at his company if need be....

You never know where help might come from. You just have to leave no stone unturned. You never know where it will lead...

Job search chronicles, Days 8-9

I am balancing guilts right now.... procrastinators guilt, shoppers guilt, emotional eaters guilt..... all my bad habits are manifesting themselves these days. At least I am exercising! I have managed not to do very much on the job search the past two days and I am feeling a little bad about that. Yesterday was spent working on real estate stuff --trying to work on this business with my investment property, so I guess I can't feel too bad about that. That does have a financial payoff. But today....... after meeting with my former co-workers for the second job searchers breakfast, I decided to head over the the mall. You see, to this point, my laptop has been set up downstairs in front of a big TV. This is because 1) when I was working, it was primarily used for recreation and 2) I couldn't get very good wi-fi signal in my office upstairs (I think there are some old concrete walls lined with wire mesh or something that interferes with the signal) I recently bought these wireless repeaters to hopefully extend the reach of the signal into the office but have not really tested it extensively. So I decided that I need to move my butt into my office so that I can have a space where I can have distinct, dedicated job search time, without a TV or Tivo to distract me. Which brings me to my shoppers guilt.....


A couple weeks ago, I was looking in the Pottery Barn catalog that they so sneakily sent to my house, and I saw this really cool charging station. It basically have a drawer with a shelf on top and in the back are holes that you can thread the charging cords through. Then, in the back, you plug them in to an internal surgeprotector thing and the cord of the surge protector comes out of a hole in the back panel and it plugged into the wall. I said to myself "I need that! That is cool!"

It comes in black which is the color I like.

And then I noticed that it is a part of a collection that has a matching desk. Another thing about my office is that the filing is over flowing. Partially because I don't do it often, but also because my filing cabinet has seen better days. It got beaten up in one of my moves. Also, the door on my desk has become misaligned and doesn't close anymore. It is one of those inexpensive, vinyl coated, pressboard desks but it has served it's purpose for a few years. But now, I think I have outgrown it. So I was considering getting a grown-up real desk to spruce up my work space and solve a few space problems.



So, after breakfast, I decided to head over to the Pottery Barn store to see if they had one of the desks in the store that I could see..... they did..... And I liked it.... A lot.... I thought that it might be the kind of thing that would have to be delivered so I asked the sales lady what the benefit was to me to get it from the store. Well, they load the stuff in your car and you have NO shipping cost, which would be 10% of the purchase price. Um yeah, I would say that is definitely a benefit. I also had this girt card that some old co-workers had given me over a year ago when I was changing jobs and bought my new house so it could help defray the cost a little. So I bought it. It will help me be more productive, right? Turns out after I bought everything, the sales lady told me that one of the end pieces was actually not in stock so they would have to get it shipped to the store for me to pick up in about a week so I won't be able to set it all up until then :-( So then, after I was leaving the store, I felt guilty, not so much because of the money I spent (only partially) but because I spent most of my afternoon shopping for this thing. (Oh, did I also forgot to mention that I stopped at Williams-Sonoma on my way out!...) I will admit though, that I am a bit of an emotional shopper, something that I probably shouldn't be doing much of since I don't have a job!

Also, the past couple days I have been eating in a very balanced way. Well, Monday started pretty good. I have leftovers from my dinner on Sunday for lunch but from the evening on it has been the pits.... I had guacamole and chips and apple pie (and drinks at the show) for dinner, a late night snack of scrambled eggs with smoked turkey and cheddar cheese when I got back from the show, yogurt with granola and honey for breakfast today and apple pie for lunch/snack. Not a good thing and I have healthy things in the house because I just went grocery shopping....

Okay well, enough beating myself up. Knowing is half the battle, right? Tomorrow is another day and an opportunity to refocus!

Job search chronicles, Days 4-5

Day 4

I decided that I needed to unpack and try to straighten up my house, which looked like a hurricane hit it. I spent all morning unpacking, cleaning up my room, doing laundry and cleaning dishes. But in the afternoon, I had, what could only be described as a little anxiety attack because I hadn't done anything with the job search that day. It was really strange....I started to feel really uneasy and my heart started beating really fast. But then I talked myself down and it passed.

I am paying attetion to my procrastination practices and coping mechanisms. I will be honest, when I was a kid, I was really shy, starting from about 3rd or 4th grade and I still have some closet introvert tendencies. A lot of people would probably be very surprised to hear this, especially those who have met me in the past 10 years because I make a conscious effort to not be so. And, it is easier to be more extroverted and outgoing as I have become more and more confident in myself and my accomplishments. But a situation like a job search can really tap into these latent tendencies if you let them. So I need to make sure that I do a certain amount of job search stuff every day and not get distracted by the other (non-money making) things that I get distracted by.

When I was still working, I committed to run in a corporate sponsored 5k run so I spent the afternoon trying to update my Shuffle so I could take it with me on the run. But it had been cloudy all day and started to rain. I could not find any rain day information anywhere and since partial thunderstorms were forecasted for the rest of the evening, I decided to not go. Of course, after I changed clothes and made other plans, it had dried up completely. :-(

Day 5

I was Job Search Johnson! I spent just about all day looking at job listings, sending emails, looking in LinkedIn etc... I applied to 3 jobs and talked to a friend I know at one of the them. He said that he will talk to HR about me and put in the good word for me.

When looking through the LinkedIn network of the recruiter I met this week, I saw the information for a guy who works for a company that I had no idea had an office here. While looking at the company's website, I saw that there were a couple jobs there that I might be qualified for. I typed up an introduction email and asked the recruiter to forward it to him. I also applied for one of the jobs. Hopefully, I can catch up with the man this upcoming week for an informational inteview. I also discovered that a man, who I was familiar with from my previous company, now works as a VP at one of the companies I am looking at for a new job. We actually have 7 contacts in common on LinkedIn but I am trying to figure out who is the best person to forward an introduction to him. Some folks who I think might have a closer connection to him, I don't have such a close connection to so I will have to work on this. One of our common connections is a former boss of mine and I already have some emails out to her so based on her response, I might ask her to forward an introduction.

Then, one of my old co-workers called me to meet with some other folks in the company for drinks. So I went! The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed some drinks, wings and blue cheese chips on the patio, while I got to hear about all the changes that have gone on in the past 2 weeks since I have been gone. I am still thinking that I am probably better off to be in the position I am in (except for the regular paycheck.) because there is no guarantee what will happen in the next few months. There may be more cuts, the severance packages might not be as nice... who knows....

The Job search chronicles, Day 1-3

So I have decided to add a regular installment to my blog about my job search as 1) a way to keep myself honest and focused and 2) because hopefully, in all of this, I can provide some useful information to someone out there who is or may be in the future in the same position soon...

So here it goes.....

I told myself that my vacation would be a great way for me to clear my head and then I would hit the ground running when I got back. Well, it didn't really happen that way....

Day 1
Day 1, I got so overwhelmed by all the stuff I had to do, job search, cleaning my house, unpacking that I got tired and decided to take a nap! Luckily, I had agreed to help my admissions director from my business school at a recruiting event so I had something to get me out of the house!

Day 2
One of my former co-workers had this great idea that a bunch of us should get together once a week for breakfast to talk about how we have been, share contacts, keep each other from being lonely/depressed/going crazy... We are meeting at this funky little place with free wi-fi... So we had our first breakfast meeting and one of use already has a job. She is starting on Monday which is really great for her.

We actually ended up staying longer than I expected so I had to run home to change for an orientation session with this company that is providing job transition and training services. It was pretty general -- they have a bunch of other classes to sign up for to help you with resume editing, interviewing skills, networking etc and a computer lab and job bank listing. It will probably be a good resource -- and another reason to get myself out of the house, motivated in my job search and around people.

One thing that the woman told us was to make sure that we stick with our regular routine, not to stop doing things that you would normally do which I can see could be a very important thing. When you don't have a set schedule anymore it is important to keep some sort of routine going so that you don't just sit around like a lump on a log. One thing that is routine that I am not doing so well at is getting up at my normal time. Some of this is probably because I am still adjusting to the time difference from my trip but some of it is also that it is one of those actual benefits of not having a job.... to be able to sleep late! My dog is not too good about letting me do this though. I manage to wake up, let her out and then go back to sleep for as long as I can.

That afternoon I decided to go to the Tuesday step class that my regular step teacher (who I love!) teaches at another location. I normally go to her Monday and Wednesday classes but since I hadn't been in 2 weeks I decided not to wait until Wednesday to get back in the swing of things. It is an advanced only class and it was really great and fast paced. I always love going to her classes because the music is good, the choreography is fun, she is really enthusiastic and kicks our butts!

Day 3
I met a friend at the gym this morning for a moderately vigorous weight training session. I figure if I am going to be out of a job, I shouldn't be out of shape too. If I dont have to go to a job everyday then I can at least go to the gym!

Then, in the afternoon, I met with a woman I had been referred to at a recruiting/executive search firm. We had a really good meeting and I also got to meet the managing partner (who I still owe an email....) She emphasized the importance of using LinkedIn for networking and told me to send her an invite to join my network so that I could then look at the companies in her contacts and see which ones interested me. She also told me how important it was to make sure that my profile is up to date. While I actually got my last job because a recruiter saw my resume on Monster (yes, it actually does happen!), she said that she and other recruiters now more often do candidate searches in LinkedIn. She also recommended the site The Ladders, a job search site that specializes in middle management and above jobs. It is actually a subscription job search service but she says that she often finds better candidates
on the site, probably because you have to pay for it. They do offer a 30 day free trial however.

Then, since it was late, I skipped going home and headed back over to the gym for my regular Weds step class. I was a little early so I hung out in the coffee shop nearby, checking my email. There I actually ran into a woman who I am friendly with from my step class. We used to live in the same building and I would see her at the gym all the time. Well, she has been out of work for a number of months now and has been having quite a lot of difficulty finding a new job, especially since she needs sponsorship to work in the US because she is a Canadian citizen. Turns out that she was meeting a friend there who lives one street over from me. So, I got to meet a new neighbor.

I was all pscyched up for another great step class but to our dissapointment, there was a sub... :-( This guy who is much slower and not as interesting. I hung in for as long as I could but was getting bored so, since this was my second time in the gym for the day, I left early..

Spotlight on Cathy Hughes

Watching the movie, Talk to Me, influenced me to do some more research on Cathy Hughes and her company, Radio One. Although an ancilliary story to the movie, the movie really introduces us to the beginnings of an African-American radio empire, that many may not know anything about.

Radio One is the seventh largest radio broadcasting company in the country which targets African American and urban markets and owns 70 stations in 22 cities. It was the first African-American woman-owned company to be traded on the stock exchange. It is responsible for the syndicated Russ Parr Morning Show

Additionally, in a joint venture with Comcast Corporation, the company created TVOne with lifestyle and entertainment oriented programming for African American adults.

But all these amazing accomplishments underpin an impressive personal story. Cathy Hughes was born and grew up in a housing project in Omaha, Nebraska. Extremely smart and ingenuious, she was the first African-American to attend a pretegious catholic school in the area and had a job at the age of 14 with the local African-American newspaper selling classified ads. However, when she found herself pregnant at age 16, her dreams became derailed....temporarily. Fueled by the determination to provide a good life for her son, she turned her passion for urban owned media into a media empire. For more information on her inspiring life story, read this profile on the Nebraska State Education Association website.