Getting It Down On Paper

The following is a jumble of thoughts that are not fully formed into a singular idea, but it is important to me to capture them in a state of flux and to share them to aid in the formation of a greater idea.
 
Gathered around a computer on Monday night with the women of my book club I realized there needs to be a shift. Sitting in a pew at Sixth & I Synagogue last night I realized that I could help source, not just support a new idea. Perhaps the catalysts seem disparate, but these two statements are now steeping in my brain:

-Only women can manage to be 50 percent of the world's population and still be a special interest group.

-Giving can be an intrinsic part of a for-profit business model.

The first was remarked by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, author of The Dressmaker of Khair Khana a book about an extraordinary woman who created a business in Afghanistan that employed dozens of women during the Taliban rule of the past decades. In discussing her work with her directly surrounded by a group of women I have known for more than a decade I was struck that we could be doing more here and abroad.

Why is it that women have allowed societal pressures to fit in, succeed and advance compromise how we treat each other. Why are we unable to support each other at work, at home, at large without first judging, competitively measuring and compromising our own ethos. For all the examples of women empowerment and support of women's initiatives we may read or even experience, we still limit our own capacity for fundamentally altering society by perpetuating the negative and limiting constructs of the past. We judge ourselves, each other and then blame society.

The second idea came from Blake Mycoskie speaking about his new book Start Something That Matters. The idea that he frames his work with TOMS not as a shoe company, but rather around the one for one idea came into focus for me as he was speaking. For-profit companies can perpetuate societal change, be the subject of cause marketing, and still meet their stakeholder obligations.

From where I sit on a daily basis, I see people view the world in starkly different ways. Those that believe you can connect purpose and profit and those that believe connecting those ideas compromises the profit.

I believe we have an obligation to change business constructs and I believe women can help drive this change from within.

Purge & Pack

Organized moves are an imperative for me. We've criss-crossed town and the country a few times to know that moving things you never really liked is not worth it. Our new motivation is also a desire to live a less cluttered life in the new place. We're not even close to ending up on an episode of hoarders, but we clearly have more stuff than we need.

So as we start to pack for our move this fall, everything is getting purged before it can be packed. The first victims during our Hurricane Irene weekend were the books. We've thinned our books every year and have at various points made substantial donations to the local library. However, our shelves always seem to still be laden. 

Said shelves are not making the move to the new place. Their slightly warped nature (courtesy of DH's law books-also not making the move) really makes them a prime candidate for purging. However, this will leave the books that did make the cut languishing in boxes until we resolve what to do with them. 

After the cut, we still have 11 boxes of books. Eleven. Seriously? That's post purge? This does not bode well. So a dilemma. Create a shrine to the books at the new place and take up precious square footage or slice again? 

What makes a book worth keeping? My first job was at a book store so I have some serious attachment to "real" books, but their sheer volume is running counter to our "less is more" plan. What to do?

From Page to Table

As some Midwestern right of passage, my mother has long sent me magazine subscriptions. This past year, I finally asked if she could just send me Vanity Fair and the Economist instead. She kindly agreed, but as the subscriptions are running out on Midwest Living and Better Homes and Gardens, I do still read them.

This month I was pleasantly surprised that BHG actually had multiple recipes I wanted to make. So last night as we grilled out for the first time this season (yum BBQ chicken) I also made their new potato-cauliflower salad.

My affection for cauliflower, the often neglected or velveeta coated veggie, is life long snack companion. I'm always happy to see it in a recipe. I used croutons instead of the bread sticks, and french onion dip because I couldn't find the chive dip it called for, but all in all a good recipe that I would add a little tabasco kick or more pepper. Definitely making it into the summer rotation.