--The fall trucks along, fast and discombobulating. I like to have projects on my agenda to
ensure that I am never without something to work on (even if they never get finished. Life is hard). I’m making progress on the crochet
rainbow blanket and writing an article for an educational journal, two things
that I might not be the best at, but I plod along at them just the same. I also just discovered some awesome ideas for
pillows/throws created from Pendleton blanket scraps (which are something like
$5/lb.), so I’m ON IT. NaBlPoMo: just around
the corner! (never been successful at
that one, but it does not matter).
--I’ve been really into the recent spate of articles on how
alienating the conversation about “women in the workforce” can be for those of
us outside of the corporate world. I was
always bothered by that in the focus on Sheryl Sandberg and her call for more
women in the boardroom. There’s the
underlying assumption that to be successful, one has to want money/power/corporate
careers. It’s completely in line with
our culture, I guess, but it still sucks and totally leaves out most of the
people I know. I also never liked how
some of her advice was to basically fake your way through your business
career. Like she goes home at 5 to eat
dinner with her kids, but makes sure to send out e-mails at 10 pm so no one
thinks she’s slacking at her job. That
idea is deeply troubling to me. It’s not
about changing the system or an honest conversation about work/life balance--instead
it’s just a way to maintain the status quo, while meagerly reclaiming one tiny
part of your life (dinner at home). The
NYTimes did a piece where successful women (again, in the business world! Because who cares about anything else!?) were
interviewed and one of them was harshly critical of crying at work, because
crying = weak/woman. I’M CRYING right
now for all of the workers that must suppress their inner spirit to be “successful”. I wish we lived in a culture that valued all
ways of being, and I think that if work were more flexible/fluid, then there
wouldn’t be this crisis in the first place--if we could have community with our
place of employment that extended into our home. I feel that my current job is the most like
this that I’ve ever had, and it feels really good and safe. I know that if something happens (crisis) in
my personal life, that I will be supported by my professional life. The lines aren’t drawn as boldly as in other
jobs, I think.
And now, to recap part of our CR
trip this summer:
Natan found the best place to stay in Monteverde, CR—a research station run by the UGeorgia that has cabins for guests with all food and (science) entertainment included! It was kind of like going to sleep-away camp in the cloud forest. They made an itinerary for us when we arrived and we walked from our cabin to the main building for meals. We got up at the crack of dawn every day, milked a cow (harder than it looks), did a lot of bird-watching and went on many nature strolls. It was not as hot as the coast, but more humid (CLOUD FOREST!), which meant that there was no relief from the sweating. It was really nice, though, and we were, again, the only Americans among European tourists (this time, from Denmark!)
One of the coolest tours we went on was to the medicinal garden where we saw how native plants were used. This tree had blood-like sap that turns white when rubbed into the skin. It was used as a toothpaste.
