vendredi gras; strategies; exhibits
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Nashville-area folks: there's going to be a Second Harvest/New Orleans-related fundraiser this Friday that (1) is really inexpensive ($3 or canned goods gets you in) (2) will feature incredible pastries, (3) includes childcare, and (4) is coordinated by my closest friend from college, which means (5) I'm serious about the pastries being out of this world, and (6) she could probably support herself blackmailing me, but fortunately, she'd rather raise money for Second Harvest and the New Orleans Women's Health Initiative. It'd be awesome if you could stop by! Here are the specifics:
Last summer, my husband's company produced an online course on how to be prepared for a disaster. It's intended for the general public, so feel free to take a peek - I'll cop to not having given much thought to the subject before. (The courses for healthcare professionals are also pretty accessible. I now know more about radiation-caused illness than I really wanted to, but there's a reason that proverb exists about the cat.)
In a comment at M'ris's, Dichroic posted rules for process improvement that struck me as (1) generally sound and (2) related to my philosophy of nudging people through appreciation rather than confrontation whenever feasible. That is, it's a lot easier to get yourself heard when you make it a habit to praise people for the things they've gotten right and give them the benefit of the doubt when you think they're doing something wrong (a strategy I first learned as a teenager letter-writer for Amnesty International and its Urgent Action Network - you don't scold the powers-to-be for the injustices you're trying to get corrected, you simply inform them of the situation and request action as if it's being presented to them for the first time - i.e., their chance to make things right). I'm thinking this is a tactic I want to adopt/adapt with regards to discussing the chocolate situation with retailers - e.g., encouraging people to write thank-you notes to stores for stocking manufacturers who engage in fair trade (whether they're officially certified or not), and spreading the word about the child labor issue that way rather than emphasizing the brands one's going to boycott (a word which automatically shuts down a lot of potential listeners these days, regardless of the cause. I admit to being somewhat hostile to it myself).
Part of the reason I'm also contemplating this method is because I suspect that positively-framed notes are remembered, appreciated, and revisited so much more than negative ones - I'm thinking in particular of one grocery store manager who made a point of personally thanking me for sending in a "Great Service" form on behalf of several of his employees. He said he usually only heard from people when they wanted to complain, so he was thrilled to receive something happy for a change. And I'm also thinking of the times I've been surprised and touched by someone going the extra mile to tell me they thought I was doing a good job - I still have the card from a bouquet of flowers one vendor sent me when they discovered I did in fact care about doing right by their product, even though that was over ten years ago, and I treasure all the other times someone's sent a note or e-mail or some other gesture to say, "Hey. I see and value your efforts."
Now, the flip side of this is that such gestures can be abused, on either side. There's a fine line between an appreciation vs. a bribe that has to be respected, and there have been a couple episodes where I've become enraged upon seeing parts of my letters lifted out of context (say, by a literary magazine over-eager to promote itself). That's a risk of writing, and not something I spend too much time worrying about, so I hesitate even mentioning it, but concerns like that have a part of my experience as well.
Yesterday consisted primarily of research, reading, and cooking (there were assorted vegetables in my fridge that were on the cusp of wilting beyond usability), but I did get downtown to catch the Bagels & Barbeque exhibit (closes this weekend). The organizers did a nice job with it -- it's genuinely state-wide as opposed to Nashville-centric, and the artefacts on display include dresses from various eras, a scary-looking medical invention that looked like a Rube Goldberg version of a Breathe-Right strip, a photo of the "first women's dissection class" in the region (showing a group of early 20th century dental students and a half-draped cadaver), and a WWII serviceman's military decorations (with a note about how he emphasizes that many people who performed acts even more extraordinary as his didn't survive the war, and that the awards need to be regarded in that context).
I also stopped in at the library, where there's currently a photography exhibit. The images are of famous writers' rooms, taken by Bob Schatz. In the window niches, there are some terrific posters (I presume created by the curator?) of quotes from the writers' works (I can't help it -- given text vs. image in the same space, I'm drawn to text more often than not), and the wall-notes are interesting as well. The first image I saw upon entering the gallery was that of a set of Dickens' works - the ones Eudora Welty's grandfather used to bribe her mother (as a young girl) into getting her hair cut.
What: "Vendredi Gras"
Where: Vanderbilt Divinity School – Common room and G-23 (child care provided in G-25)
When: Friday, February 1, 2008 (last Friday before Lent) 8PM-12AM
Why: It wouldn't be Mardi Gras without good food, good music, and gaudy decoration, so join us for a smörgåsbord of Hurricane punch and Creole cooking alongside amazing sweets and hot caffeinated beverages. Dance to Zydeco, Cajun, and jazz music and deck yourselves out with beads, masks and crazy costume accessories as you play games, compete for door prizes, buy raffle tickets and peruse a decadent display of baked goods for your purchasing pleasure.
Last summer, my husband's company produced an online course on how to be prepared for a disaster. It's intended for the general public, so feel free to take a peek - I'll cop to not having given much thought to the subject before. (The courses for healthcare professionals are also pretty accessible. I now know more about radiation-caused illness than I really wanted to, but there's a reason that proverb exists about the cat.)
In a comment at M'ris's, Dichroic posted rules for process improvement that struck me as (1) generally sound and (2) related to my philosophy of nudging people through appreciation rather than confrontation whenever feasible. That is, it's a lot easier to get yourself heard when you make it a habit to praise people for the things they've gotten right and give them the benefit of the doubt when you think they're doing something wrong (a strategy I first learned as a teenager letter-writer for Amnesty International and its Urgent Action Network - you don't scold the powers-to-be for the injustices you're trying to get corrected, you simply inform them of the situation and request action as if it's being presented to them for the first time - i.e., their chance to make things right). I'm thinking this is a tactic I want to adopt/adapt with regards to discussing the chocolate situation with retailers - e.g., encouraging people to write thank-you notes to stores for stocking manufacturers who engage in fair trade (whether they're officially certified or not), and spreading the word about the child labor issue that way rather than emphasizing the brands one's going to boycott (a word which automatically shuts down a lot of potential listeners these days, regardless of the cause. I admit to being somewhat hostile to it myself).
Part of the reason I'm also contemplating this method is because I suspect that positively-framed notes are remembered, appreciated, and revisited so much more than negative ones - I'm thinking in particular of one grocery store manager who made a point of personally thanking me for sending in a "Great Service" form on behalf of several of his employees. He said he usually only heard from people when they wanted to complain, so he was thrilled to receive something happy for a change. And I'm also thinking of the times I've been surprised and touched by someone going the extra mile to tell me they thought I was doing a good job - I still have the card from a bouquet of flowers one vendor sent me when they discovered I did in fact care about doing right by their product, even though that was over ten years ago, and I treasure all the other times someone's sent a note or e-mail or some other gesture to say, "Hey. I see and value your efforts."
Now, the flip side of this is that such gestures can be abused, on either side. There's a fine line between an appreciation vs. a bribe that has to be respected, and there have been a couple episodes where I've become enraged upon seeing parts of my letters lifted out of context (say, by a literary magazine over-eager to promote itself). That's a risk of writing, and not something I spend too much time worrying about, so I hesitate even mentioning it, but concerns like that have a part of my experience as well.
Yesterday consisted primarily of research, reading, and cooking (there were assorted vegetables in my fridge that were on the cusp of wilting beyond usability), but I did get downtown to catch the Bagels & Barbeque exhibit (closes this weekend). The organizers did a nice job with it -- it's genuinely state-wide as opposed to Nashville-centric, and the artefacts on display include dresses from various eras, a scary-looking medical invention that looked like a Rube Goldberg version of a Breathe-Right strip, a photo of the "first women's dissection class" in the region (showing a group of early 20th century dental students and a half-draped cadaver), and a WWII serviceman's military decorations (with a note about how he emphasizes that many people who performed acts even more extraordinary as his didn't survive the war, and that the awards need to be regarded in that context).
I also stopped in at the library, where there's currently a photography exhibit. The images are of famous writers' rooms, taken by Bob Schatz. In the window niches, there are some terrific posters (I presume created by the curator?) of quotes from the writers' works (I can't help it -- given text vs. image in the same space, I'm drawn to text more often than not), and the wall-notes are interesting as well. The first image I saw upon entering the gallery was that of a set of Dickens' works - the ones Eudora Welty's grandfather used to bribe her mother (as a young girl) into getting her hair cut.
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