Friday, August 30, 2013

On chronic illness - "To be sick in this way is to have the unpleasant feeling that you are impersonating yourself. When you're sick, the act of living is more act than living. Healthy people . . have the luxury of forgetting that our existence depends on a cascade of precise cellular interactions."

- Meghan O'Rourke, The New Yorker (August 26, 2013)

. . . .

Article on a man who donates forged art to museums - "[Mark Landis] thinks that he has given work to small museums that couldn't afford it, so that people who wouldn't usually encounter such pieces can see them and be broadened. This attitude accords with the earliest philosophies of American museums, which often presented facsimiles of European sculpture in the form of plaster casts. At one point, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston had the third-largest collection of plaster casts in the world." 'Initially, there wasn't the mission among our museums that you needed to have original works of art.'

- Alec Wilkinson, The New Yorker (August 26, 2013)



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08.18.13 (Sunday afternoon) - I made T some playdough and the girls joined in, they all sculpted with it for over and hour. Just when you think your kids are too old for something . . .

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08.18.13 (Sunday) - Lazy day at home, trying not to stress too much while I pack for a 10 day vacation. That magnet car has become T's absolute favorite toy.

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08.15.13 (Thursday afternoon) - VA Museum of Art for lunch with Grandma. I love when P can't stop using her hands to talk.

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08.15.13 (Thursday morning) - Science Museum of VA in Richmond. Giant bubbles and an Imagination Playground = happy kids.

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08.14.13 (Wednesday afternoon) - Marbeling at Grandma Margie's house. T loved it so much he went through all Margie's paper.

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08.14.13 (Wednesday morning) - Lately P keeps putting together railroad tracks for T. They don't always go anywhere but he seems to love it.
"Reserving judgements is a matter of infinite hope."

. . . .

"Yet high over the city our line of yellow windows must have contributed their share of human secrecy to the casual watcher in the darkening streets, and I was with him too, looking up and wondering. I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life."

. . . .

"I had taken two finger-bowls of champagne, and the scene had changed before my eyes into something significant, elemental and profound."

. . . .

"There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy, and the tired."

. . . .

"Her voice is full of money,' he said suddenly.

That was it. I'd never understood before. It was full of money - that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of it . . High in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl."

. . . .

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter - to-morrow we will run faster, stretch our arms farther . . . And one fine morning -

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

- The Great Gatsby
, F. Scott Fizgerald

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08.13.13 (late Tuesday night) - I love dusk at the playground. We ran home as a huge storm came in. The girls went inside for towels, then went back out and danced in the rain.

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08.13.13 (Tuesday night) - Dog walk.

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08.13.13 (Tuesday afternoon) - We've really let schoolwork slide this summer. Some catching up must be done.

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08.12.13 (Monday night) - The scooters have been the hit of our summer.

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08.12.13 (Monday afternoon) - I love the Hirshhorn. LOVE.

Sunday, August 18, 2013

The Leadership Ambition Gap

"If my generation was too naive, the generations that have followed may be too practical. We knew too little, and not girls know too much. Girls growing up today are not the first generation to have equal opportunity, but they are the first to know that opportunity does not necessarily translate into professional achievement."

"The pipeline that supplies the educated workforce is chock-full of women at the entry level, but by the time that same pipeline is filling leadership positions, it is overwhelmingly stocked with me . . . . one important contributor is the leadership ambition gap."

. . . .

"Gymboree once sold onesies proclaiming 'Smart like Daddy' for boys and 'Pretty like Mommy' for girls. That same year, J.C. Penny marketed a T-shirt for teenage girls that bragged, "I'm too pretty to do homework so my brother has to do it for me." These things did not happen in 1951. They happened in 2011."

Sit at The Table

"If we want a world with greater equality, we need to acknowledge that women are less likely to keep their hands up. . . And women need to learn to keep their hands up, because when they lower them, even managers with the best intentions might not notice."


Success and Likeability

"Whenever possible, women should substitute 'we' for 'I.'A woman's request will be better received if she asserts, 'We had a great year,' as opposed to 'I had a great year.' . . . Men don't have to legitimize themselves for negotiations; they are expected to look out for themselves. Women, however, have to justify their requests. One way of doing this is to suggest that someone more senior encouraged the negotiation . . . or to cite industry standards. . . . Also, just being nice is not a winning strategy . . . This is why a woman needs to combine niceness with insistence, a style . . . [called] "relentlessly pleasant. . . . This method requires smiling frequently, expressing apprehension and concern, invoking common interests, emphasizing larger goals, and approaching the negotiation as solving a problem as opposed to taking a critical stance."

It's a Jungle Gym, Not a Ladder


". . . only one criterion [matters] when picking a job - fast growth."

Are You My Mentor?

"If current trends continue, fifteen years from today, about one-third of the women in this audience [Harvard Business School, spring 2011] will be working full-time and almost all of you will be working for the guy you are sitting next to."

. . . .

"We need to stop telling [women] 'Get a mentor and you will excel.' Instead, we need to tell them, 'Excel and you will get a mentor."

Seek and Speak Your Truth

"effective communication starts with the understanding that there is my point of view (my truth) and someone else's point of view (his truth). . . Compare these two statements: 'You never take my suggestions seriously' and 'I feel frustrated that you have not responded to my last four e-mails, which leads me to believe that my suggestions are not important to you. Is that so?' . . . . reflecting someone else's viewpoint clarifies the disagreement and becomes a starting point for resolution. I now do this with my children. . . I love hearing my son explain to my daughter, 'I'm sorry you're upset because you lost Monopoly, but I'm older than you so I should win."

. . . .

"How can I do better? What am I doing that I don't know? What am i NOT doing that I don't see? These questions can lead to many benefits. And believe me, the truth hurts."

Don't Leave Before You Leave


"women who can afford to drop out of the workplace often receive not just permission but encouragement to do so from all directions."

Make Your Partner A Real Partner


"Even if mothers are more naturally inclined toward nurturing, fathers can match that skill with knowledge and effort. 'It's not about biology, but about consciousness.' . . . I have seen so many women inadvertently discourage their husbands from doing their share by being too controlling or critical. Social scientists call this 'maternal gatekeeping.' . . . Anyone who wants her mate to be a true partner must treat him as an equal - and equally capable - partner. . . A study found that wives who engage in gatekeeping behaviors do five more hours of family work per week than wives who take a more collaborative approach."

- Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg

Saturday, August 17, 2013

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08.11.13 (late Sunday afternoon) - Ready for the car ride home.

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08.11.13 (Sunday afternoon, part II) - Julia took these pics of T, me, and pink sheet (still a family member). Love them.

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08.11.13 (Sunday afternoon) - Boys.

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08.10.13 (Saturday night) - Waiting for fireworks.

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08.10.13 (Saturday evening) - Julia beat me.

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08.10.13 (Saturday, late afternoon) - Sunburn.

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08.10.13 (Saturday afternoon) - Against all odds, a beautiful afternoon at the lake.

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08.10.13 (Saturday late morning) - Finally, the rain stops!!

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08.10.13 (Saturday morning) - Snowshoe, WV. Making the best of the rain.

Friday, August 16, 2013

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08.09.13 (Friday evening) - Best friends and (finally) clear skies in Snowshoe, WV.

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08.09.13 (Friday afternoon) - We arrived at Snowshoe to crazy rain, wind, and COLD. So we holed up in the condo. And F made herself at home.

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08.08.13 (Thursday morning) - Even Coco had a sleepover last night.

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08.07.13 (Wednesday night) - Spent the whole morning at Great Country Farms, blackberry picking and running like crazy. So we needed some downtime before the double sleepover.

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08.05.13 (Monday night) - Adventure Park USA. Chuck E. Cheese meets the County Fair. Of course my kids loved it. Though poor P missed the roller coaster cut-off by 1 lousy inch. Next year, P. Next year.