In my discussions and reading in the past year, I note that a lot of society's problems revolve around:

* How to achieve knowledge transfer to the next generation(s) while still allowing room for/encouraging new ideas and innovation.

* How to help people develop lasting connections to other people

* How to connect people to services and activities that can help them live a healthy and rewarding life.

* How to connect people with the time, energy, and will to serve to opportunities for them to do so that fit their skills, abilities, preferences, and availability profile.

* How to build a dependable funding stream/business model as needed, as part of:

* How to help make those services / organizations be sustainable over time

(which circles around to)

* How to capture and retain knowledge of how to create and sustain an effective organization.


In my observation, organizational effectiveness tends to be closely linked to specific people, and their personal investment or dependability, as well as their connections to others. And not necessarily people with "leadership" skills, but with people who have whatever are the specific skills and interests or enthusiasm and connections needed to play their part in the organization.

And when the people who created an organization grow old and die, all too often, the history of how the organization actually came to be is lost with them, because they themselves were to busy to actually reflect upon it and capture it, and because it was so long ago no one can for sure remember, and because we as humans are not always sure how something came together - often the origin of something is as much based on friendships and other social connections as it is on a common purpose or intent.

Mentoring can ameliorate these problems, but in this case I mean mentoring with organizational intent or purpose - not mentoring just in order to serve/guide the mentee, but in order to serve the organization by facilitating the education of individuals as to how the organization actually works, in the hope that those individuals will continue with the organization and sustain it.

When funding that was previously available dries up, or a wealthy donor or organizer dies or has to retire, or there is other significant organizational change/turnover, the outside community/people who were "customers" or volunteers with that organization often have no idea what is going on, and little-to-no ability to revive or preserve whatever aspect of that organization they were attached to/benefited from.

All of this contributes to people feeling helpless or hopeless about their own community, even in a community where there is plenty of desire to *build* community. Without knowing how, people are lost, or isolated.

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Here is Rosie on her last day of first grade. There was a ceremony for the lower school end of year, with singing and gratitude to teachers and the kids receiving their Summer Book, and lots of fuss for the 5th graders, who are moving up to Middle School. I never had such fuss when I was a kid. Not until High School graduation. There was just school and then no school.

Now we face the long summer. We have projects around the house, a little bit of local travel planned for hiking and sight-seeing, possibly some slightly longer trips to see relatives and friends, do some camping. Rosie will have some day camps, including ice skating camp, but mostly we can't afford those this year, so it'll be the free Tennis for Kids program, Get Outdoors York, Summer Reading Program, and whatever else we come up with, ending with a trip to Michigan in August for Rosie's 7th birthday, as she requested, to be with her cousins, grandparents, and Ann Arbor friends. What an amazing kiddo.

I told her earlier this week I think becoming her mom was the best thing I ever decided to do. It hasn't been easy, and I know there's no guarantee for how long life will last, but it's already been amazing, and I have high hopes for this one.

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Last week I traveled to DC on a group excursion I arranged with timed passes to see the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Our timed Entry was 12:45 and we toured the Capitol building first so we were a bit rushed with lunch and getting there on time. Our group was part people from the NAACP exec, part people from Crispus Attucks Association and the Goodridge Freedom Center, and then also two local museum members, who had arranged the capital tour and also for us to tour the NMAAHC with the head of Collections, who apparently doesn't actually give tours, so it was a very special opportunity.

I'm still processing my reaction to the museum. The outside is gorgeous. The inner lobby had a couple art pieces installed in it that just left me feeling puzzled as to their point or connection to anything else, and in talking to other members of the group, that reaction seemed shared. We spent a bunch of time on the bottom floor, which has to do with the beginning of the colonies and slave trade. I feel like I could have taken a full day to go through each floor, and still not have seen and heard all there was to see and hear. They have a couple of whole cabins that have been relocated into the museum. They have a Tuskegee airplane. There is so much. A lot of it I have already studied in the past 6 years, but some of it was still new.

My friend Serena and I spent some time in the gift shop. Lots of books. Some odd things. Like, they have a book of paper dolls of Michelle Obama and her clothes, but the representations of her and her fashion do not do either justice. I commented on that to Serena, and she agreed and felt it was clearly not the work of an African American artist. There were several odd notes like that. There were places in the historical displays were I was sorry they left things out. Only so much space, right?

I will have to go back a few times to take it all in, and plus it is going to change. There was a whole exhibit hall that's not open yet. Lots to see.

Speaking of seeing, Here are some pictures from the trip This entry was originally posted at http://netmouse.dreamwidth.org/807503.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

I am so sad to hear about people being killed and tortured and imprisoned in Chechnya (and the world around) for being gay.

Is this another holocaust?

Why now?

This entry was originally posted at http://netmouse.dreamwidth.org/807194.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

In June of 2001 I was married. I had two bridal showers - one formal, with relatives, and one less formal, with only chosen family besides my mother. I have recently been going back through pictures from the wedding as well as my journal from that time period (written on paper, all old-fashioned, like), and I wanted to share this with people who know me:



[click on the picture to see the rest of the album]

On Sunday, June 10, 2001, I was the special guest at a brunch bridal shower hosted by some of my mom's best friends, at the home of Michael and Lucy Miller, in Ann Arbor. Then and now, I was struck by how amazing these women were, and how lucky I've been, to have had them in my life since I was little. They were not surrogate mothers, nor did I think of them as Aunts. They were, and are, the central network of my lifelong extended family, our closest friends. As long as I can remember, their homes and hearts have been open to me, and I have learned how to treat and get along with others, how to joke, play, dance, discuss, and live life, by their example almost as much as from my own parents.

(Other women who played that role in my life but were not present were Sue Downey, Gena Lovett, Martha McClatchey, Ina [Keyes] Wesenberg, Jane [Goldman] McGehee, Pat Hackley, and Ellen MacDonald. And I shall never forget Marci Gersh, who died some years ago.)

According to my journal, the hostesses were Lucy Miller, Cathie Dries, and Edi Bletcher, and guests present included myself, my mom, Anna Miller, Sandy and Anna Krecic, Penny McDonald, Tanja Vandervoo, Noel Winkler, and Suzanne Taylor. My friend Ann Cheng also attended, who had driven over for the weekend with me from Waterloo, Ontario, where I was still finishing my master's degree.

My journal also makes note of the food: Cheese and bread and wine and water, and then a delicious lunch of pasta (angel hair, w/pinenuts, artichoke hearts, garlic, mini zuchini slices, fresh dill w/oil & vinegar & lemon juice), grilled turkey breast (marinated in Montreal steak sauce, grilled by Tom Bletcher over hickory & cedar chips), fancy breads, and a dark greens salad. Lucy also put out a plate of pea pods and cherries, which looked pretty, with sesame seeds scattered over the peas and the cherries around the outside. And for dessert Cathie had made a cheesecake. That was served with fresh blueberries and raspberries and kiwi on top and on the side with optional raspberry sauce.

After lunch was presents, and they had me tell everyone how I knew the person whose gift I was opening. After general presents I got a recipe book, which included recipes from people who couldn't come, like Pat Hackley. Aimee McDonald was "reportedly in Chicago at the gala opening of Davy Rothbart's new magazine and couldn't come, but she sent a card which I'll have to re-read later 'cause it made me cry."

I have been through a divorce and many moves since that lovely Sunday, and let stuff go with each of those events as well as when I merged my life with Brian's. I no longer have all of the gifts from this event, but I still have that recipe book. Including a very spicy recipe from Aimee that warns the cook to be careful not to catch the kitchen on fire with the spicy hot oil. :) As you can tell from that book, and from what I wrote in my journal, they also helped teach me a love of food, and of sharing it with others.

I am so very thankful to have all these women in my life. I simply cannot express how much it means to me.

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I didn't realize the footers with the links to dreamwidth were not showing up on posts crossposted to LJ. This should be corrected now.

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I just applied for a job, and as part of that, updated my website at netmouse.com.

While doing that, I updated a sort of ongoing log of my major activities, which is over at this page on how I've spent my time.

I also changed references to livejournal so they now refer here to netmouse.dreamwidth.org

If you are curious about me, because I am new to you or just in general, that page has a lot in it about who I am and what I have done.

I am actively looking for short term freelance work, part-time work, or possibly full time work. If you have any opportunities you think I should consider, please reach out. Thanks!

Hello folks at Dreamwidth! I am switching my posting to here.

This is due to the recent change in terms of service at Livejournal. I have had this account here on DW for a long time, but I haven't really used it much. I am hoping there will be a resurgence of use and enough of a community here to support my being active on Dreamwidth.

I have imported my content from LJ (in DW, under Organize->Import Content) and will be cross-posting to LJ from DW automagically.

This post is partly to see if that is working.