or this?

oh

and meanwhile

loss

and gratitude for flexibility in the workplace, aware of so many without work at all, or at work in places with little or no time for bereavement.

unspeakably sad.

but in a room, an office, a space holding work, tears, loss, movement.

related:

seems counter-intuitive that I would be happier than my shrink

happiness runs

job happiness, via the Utne Reader

in whose interest?

interesting reflection on doing work, on doing good. please read it here.

Jobs on work

“If you want to hire great people and have them stay working for you, you have to let them make a lot of decisions and you have to, you have to be run by ideas, not hierarchy. The best ideas have to win, otherwise good people don’t stay.”
Steve Jobs, interview with Walt Mossberg via The Small Wave.



this

some days

are just difficult

for reasons

opportunity knocks

everyday fashiontips presents: bring joy to your job

[click to enlarge]

oh

Boost your career with these Upcoming Courses

[click to enlarge]

quandary

students from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Colombia, Brazil.

all teenagers.

four of eight are opposed to civil unions, same sex marriage. one adamantly sure that if civil unions are allowed, the generations will stop. this was one of several topics they've named as fodder for debate.

how to educate, not use the power (such as it is) of my job to proselytize. also: who would listen, and also, what would that change?

one thing - pie chart: what happens when gay people marry? 100% = gay people are married.

help from a colleague. we'll see what happens on the day after america's birthday.


one other thing: photo of a sign reading If straight people hate gay people so much, why do they continue to make gay babies?"

judge not

http://bygonebureau.com/2011/06/24/know-so-little-about-my-job/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:%20bygonebureau%20(The%20Bygone%20Bureau)&utm_content=Google%20Reader

via Jamie

read this, please

Untangling the Postsecondary Debate

allow a professional

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/tribu/ct-tribu-0620-work-advice-20110620,0,2525967.story

journalism

more here

say thank you

when you ask someone for feedback, or help or whatever and they do that, it's nice to say thank you.

failing that, if you're not feeling thankful (maybe the feedback wasn't what you'd hoped for? maybe you had something else in mind?) at least acknowledge that the thing was done. no?

is that so very hard to do?

in work, in life, people to people, manners cost nothing. generally speaking.

only

connect

for example

It just may be in how we think not in how we do. You cannot make anyone do anything - change attitude or learn. There is no such thing as teaching there is only learning and one learns only what one chooses to learn. The job of a trainer is to set it up so the student wants to get it. That is the real art of teach9ng and training. Knowledge of subject matter is great but unless you can get the student to want to learn it then you are not a teacher. You are only a book with a mouth.

There is an old saying that you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. Correct. But as a trainer I can put enough salt in his oats to make him thirsty.

attitude?

discuss

what

counts?

angsty

more than a year has passed since I was asked not to work and then asked to. allowed to.
something.

my heart hurts for people who are asked not to. apparently, too, my heart frets.

what does respect look like ?


also:
it's 8:41 pm. not 5:34. I am not at work.

panel

four students, fifty minutes, twenty listeners.

students thoughtful, prepared. well prepared. clear.
much much time, energy, effort.

good work.

how do we find time and listeners to give it fuller attention?

how do we continue conversations in any meaningful way?

how do we make room for what's important to be important?

what will it take to align priorities?

today

early:
desk, desk, desk
phone
desk

give blood, receive lorna doones and fig newtons. share with students

meet. discuss.

desk

meeting off site

desk

dinner, walk

settee. wireless. [desk-like]

late

if

you weren't there I'd feel like I had no one to talk to
[at that place]

people helping

one another

this morning, small team of practitioners doing work on a national project. we've been a little late in meeting our deadlines.
one of us is really accomplished and loving the work and helping the rest in lovely ways - not ways that say, HEY! I can do this and you can't, but that say. hey. this is interesting. Let me show you how.

nice.

sometimes nice is nice is lovely and better than good enough.

bliss

a friend once described bliss as something, as a state of being, as something something that consists of work he loved and people he loved.

like kindness, a direction. somewhere to think about.
letting go of what cannot be controlled, what I cannot change to focus on what I can do, and the allies with whom the work can be done.

power = power

at one workplace

the meeting is engaging, lots to do, discuss, within a limited bit of time.

people forget that they'd planned a lovely surprise for one of their own.

is kindness gendered?

not always, and yet.

says who

where?
when?

via a colleague:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42377025/ns/business-careers/

also

sometimes?


invisible

because they care

Sunday evening:
meeting with two students
and then with another thirteen.

who are working hard, staying up late
speaking thoughtfully

reminding me

why

and then

some days go well.

in other news

it says: When you play “Celebration” unironically in your office at volumes loud enough for me to hear, it makes me want to murder you.

this just in

[click to embiggenate]


from someone who was instrumental in saving my sorry ass in the first place.

traveling

for work

entails sometimes people asking questions.

traveling for work entails, bad espionage

traveling for work means never wanting to say you're sorry

is it

enough to do what we're good at doing, what gives us joy
what we struggle to accomplish on our own terms and in communion with others?

is it ever time to say, no. I won't. not on those terms?

who shoots who in whose foot, how?

at the end of the day what really does count?

how many times can I ask the question?

do what you always do, get what you've always gotten.

balance

http://www.cartoonbank.com/2011/on-the-bright-side-ever-since-the-layoff-and-my-divorce-its-been-much-easier-to-balance-work-a/invt/136788/


[on the bright side, ever since the layoff and my divorce, it's been much easier to balance work and family]

reminder

what counts:

kindness
people
being present
engagement

calling bullshit, speaking truth to power

what doesn't:
bullshit
dwelling on bullshit when nothing will change that particular meter

note to self: head down, chin up.

connection

my friend, stupidly canned last fall, sent this now plant late in the year. before Christmas some time.




It needs to be said, I need to say that this colleague did her job impeccably, looked after the people she supervised, supported them so that they could do their work.

For reasons that remain to be understood ever ever, she was unceremoniously shown the door.
shame on that person, shame on that bad boss.



At the time she sent this lovely thank you, it was a pot. a tray under, to catch water. some Spanish moss.
and now? today, March 25th: this second bloom is starting to finish itself.
weeks and months of growing slowly and then not
and
then, maybe, next fall. again.

connection. air, earth. light.

enraged

and shaking
and angry
and what the fuck, really?
and
go for a walk
DO some other work
have a good class
step away from the cause of that particular rage
I can. not. change. that. particular thing.
working hard hard hard to do the thing I can do.

breathing

shaking with rage

walking, breathing.

breathing.

day 366

day by day by day by day

not shown: a drink, a visit with a student who was there then, is here now.

work to do.

high road: trip tik? gps?

I can do this.

no?

I can get out of my own way, listen to students. try to do better.

I can wish and wish that people doing things wrong would cut it out. But it's unlikely that they will.

I can try hard and harder to do the other pieces, the work that seems necessary, as well as I can.

else. what is the point?

collaboration

spent some time reading hard-to-read things for a thing a colleague is putting together.

felt a little cranky, but this is a colleague who does good work, who brings people together, who is helpful and smart.

we met to discuss the thing this morning with three other people I'd never met before.

they're smart. it was interesting and compelling and made me remember the possibilities of the possibilities of the work we do.

someone lovely

passed this week.

His work continues to hold out meaning, and challenge and hope and anger, maybe, and love.

Our job seems to be to carry on doing our job as well.

This is the person who years ago described bliss to contain work he loved and people he loved.

Both are diminished without him in the world now.

power in a union

listen here

and sometimes

I just try to get out of my own way

acknowledge kindness where it is. when it is

compassion

is leadership about support? what does support look like?
if we all pull up our socks, keep our heads down, shoulder to the wheel, nose to the grindstone, eyes on the prize.

does kindness get in the way of this?

worker appreciation day

From: [the administration]
To: All
Subject: Worker's Appreciation Day!

Have dinner at the [eating place] today and say thanks to the [organization] staff who keep our [organization] running. In honor of our dining workers and Cape Verdean Heritage Weekend, Cape Verdean cuisine will be on the menu so be sure to come try some cachupa, jagacida, codfish & more!

As you move about the campus today we encourage you to show your appreciation for [organization staff :)

fear full

someone went to an administrative office. people often do that. on this particular day
my stomach completely knotted up. all day, waiting for security to come and escort me out and firemyass all over again.

true story

really?

job offer

oh

conversation

Mom: I need (some cash) because (someone) did (something) and I need to pay her.

me: I did (something) and you didn't give me (that much cash). oh, but, wait. You did give me a car. and you pushed me out of your body, so really I should be grateful. You gave me life. So I should say thank you.

Except, for when I hate my job. Then it's all your fault.

Mom:

not only all about me

Alec Turer's Redundancy Blog

day by

day
by day

deeply breathing

and this

I give the fuck up

and why

these ads ? [click to embiggenate]

the internet has its own superego?

really? more supervision, more judging?

all. we. need.

love and work

[source]

a friend once said something about bliss, something something love and work.

I wonder.

stress

(source)

when bad things happen

(source)




to good organizations.


my heart hurts for colleagues in a shop where bad and worse and unacceptable choices are being made.

Dr. King

with my mother today. not at the office.

thinking about the holiday; a few cogent observations about Dr. King and the civil rights movement.
thinking about peace and kindness.
trying and wanting to find ways to bring kindness to bear in all my encounters. trying to leave the awful behind.
or elsewhere.
or
something.
but mostly thinking about kindness.

it's harder than it looks

slowly

one thing, one thing, one thing.

in the stairwell

via jamiek









Please don't misinterpret my inflammatory remarks

bosstweet

hmm

loud

wondering if there's a reason that someone within very close proximity is have a speaker phone conversation with one person and without anyone else in the office.
why?
why why why why why?

seomtimes

someone communicates a question
someone else responds in as timely a manner as possible
then
hears
nothing

and wonders
a) has something bad happened to the asker?
b) am I wrong to've responded so quickly - - too eager? too willing to comply?
or
c) ?

found while looking for something else

(from here)

fascinating

have been in my workplace for almost two hours. have greeted no one; no one has greeted me.