No longer necessary, ...

It takes energy to stay informed. The world seems smaller or at least closer now and my younger self-was so wrong about the need to advocate soon to be unnecessary.

At age 17, I actually thought all the important fights had been fought: that advocacy for causes on the side of good & right were no longer necessary. An eighteen-year-old could now vote. There was an end in sight for Vietnam War. The Civil Rights struggles would now be history lessons. Even at 28, I was still in the shallows. Iran Contra seemed 'nothing' compared to Vietnam. I had just served two years in VISTA but failed to connect the dots between the Criminal Justice System I found broken and the failed of Civil Rights Activism and Acts. At 33 I became a community leader by title; a full calendar with tasks and topics: reproductive rights, recycling, voter engagement as President of the League of Women Voters of New Haven. I got swallowed up in the consensus agendas for several years. I did not stay a member after this immersion. I needed to retreat. I did however find another nonpartisan venue: Community TV.

My shallows
Was I a victim of my shallows, my education and media choices?  Did I measured the value of the revolts by the numbers of participants I observed as reported on TV?  Was broadcast news a real window on the world? The Vietnam war was piped into our homes daily. How did it really deepen my understanding of the world or the why of it. Ironically I read Gloria Steinem My Life on the Road to discover so much context for my life.  It was a gift and is truly that.

Today I can stand with those saluting the American flag and taking a knee during the Anthem. While I enable free speech in my daily pursuits, I can not stand with anyone who condemns civil protests.

Much in the world will continue to need advocacy, including Mother Earth herself. Symbols and words have power.  Choose wisely. 

Embracing the work of others, sharing it as a treasure

CLP: More than serendipity and improv

Update: I received a CLP invitation to participate 7/14/17; engagement begins this Fall. Grateful.

My paid work-life is bookended by full-time volunteering. I am in more than full-time service mode now. Graduate studies, in research, then in e-media, preceded these opportunities to serve my community; initially as a VISTA Volunteer in New Haven and now operating a nonprofit Community TV station in Wallingford, CT.  

I recently applied to Community Leadership Program offered by a Foundation serving New Haven. Its mission is to equip, support, and inspire community leaders. I did this to help moderate, and enhance, the next leg of my journey. If diversity includes a middle-aged white suburban woman, I may get selected. Chances are said to be less than fifty-fifty in this year's aspiring and deserving applicant pool.

My Journey

My personal life is peppered with name alterations and course corrections. The bulk of my career was with one corporation that had many transformations of its own thus providing no opportunity for my stagnation. 

I have had many common labels like foster mom, analyst, team lead, poet, president, adviser, chairman, victim, and maven with not-so-ordinary stories to accompany them. 

At age 10, I decided my home would have a window above the kitchen sink with a view of a bustling bird feeder. I have this. At 21, I wanted to be a writer and thought my day job would be a social worker; neither truly came to pass. At 32, I became a mom giving birth to a son and a pen name ~Adele Houston. Both would become my sanctuary. At 40, I had a moment of independence. At 50, I decided to face my technology anxiety which derailed my training in Library Sciences in 1975. I returned to school for a second advanced degree which put me into an ever-changing e-media landscape and an abundance of lifelong learning opportunities. Currently, I aspire to a fulfilling mid-life with my sights set to double infinity (88). I still do not know what I want to be when I grow up. I firmly believe that serendipity makes the most of choices and fate. 

To equip, support, and inspire can describe my day job with storytelling at its core. Some days I wish my toolkit was less improvisational. My leadership style is situational as it should be, however, it is not as informed as it could be. Every experience provides a new or revived life lesson. I seem to be acquiring fewer scars along the way.

At the moment my life is substantially driven by whatever walks in the door of the TV station. As such, I change lives including my own in unexpected ways, daily. 

In spite of successful strategic outcomes, sustainability remains elusive for the organization I serve. For this to change, I need to not only help build organizational capacity but be willing to personally be less anonymous. Some peculiar constraints are also tied to local politics with a mayor of 34 years who dare I say is not a fan. Many stories herein. 

I remain uncertain as to whether I should be a bit more take-charge of my life. Ironically, I am perceived as someone in-charge.

Next: Will authenticity grow wrinkles? or Over today's Rainbow

Dutchboy and me

My 1st Haibun is written (while among other poem-makers) in response to a vase of artificial tulips and porcelain kissing dutch ceramics.

Like from a storybook. We. Inhale.

You are 100%. Your name means house in Dutch. 

Now my name, my home is salt & peppered 

with Delftblue, porcelain, clogs, wooden shoes and the abundant promise of tulips in port.  

My imaginings still linger, Kiss Me In Paris, circa 1950, posterized Doisneau nuanced in black and white, more me, than you.

Sans fragrance

In shiny, colorful cheer

we are molded.