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Fw: Peace Corps Hearing Next Week - May NPCA Advocacy Update

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  • Stephanie Schuck
    In the end, we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand what we are taught. -Baba Dioum, Senegalese
    Message 1 of 1 , May 4 9:18 PM

      "In the end, we will conserve only what we love.  We will love only what we understand.  We will understand what we are taught."
                                                                                -Baba Dioum, Senegalese conservationist

      ----- Forwarded Message ----
      From: National Peace Corps Association <jonathan@...>
      To: schuck_stephanie@...
      Sent: Wed, May 4, 2011 6:37:44 PM
      Subject: Peace Corps Hearing Next Week - May NPCA Advocacy Update

      Advocacy Header

      May 4, 2011                                                                                www.PeaceCorpsConnect.org

      Dear Stephanie,

      --Next week, hearings will be held before a House Committee with a focus on physical and sexual assaults of Peace Corps volunteers.

      --If you believe in the importance of universal basic education, this is an important week to take action.

      --And, from late June through September, there are lots of opportunities to engage the offices of your lawmakers for direct advocacy.

      Here is your May monthly advocacy update.

      US Capitol
      Congress Prepares for May 11th Safety/Security Hearing

      The House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee has scheduled a full committee hearing next Wednesday, May 11th, to take up concerns pertaining to sexual assault and other safety and security issues confronting Peace Corps volunteers.

      The morning hearing will include testimony from several RPCVs and the mother of Kate Puzey, a Benin volunteer who was murdered during service and the subject of an investigation aired earlier this year on ABC News.

      Also scheduled to testify are Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams on last year's agency assessment and the issue of agency reform. The Peace Corps Inspector General and a representative of the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network are also scheduled to testify.

      Follow this link for more details on the hearing.

      The group First Response Action, led by RPCV survivors of sexual assault, have launched a petition drive asking Congress to support legislation to establish certain rights for those subjected to sexual or physical assault while serving as volunteers. Follow this link to read and sign the petition.

      GreigsNational Day of Action 2011 Video

      A day of strong Peace Corps advocacy, the National Day of Action brought together RPCVs serving in every region of the world over all the Peace Corps eras to urge support for Peace Corps funding and Peace Corps Commemorative Legislation.

      For those who couldn't attend, hear the comments of several participants about their advocacy experience.  View our video about the 2011 National Day of Action.

      House Letter for Increased PC Funding Receives

      108 Signatures

      Led by the trio of RPCV California Congressmen - Sam Farr, Mike Honda, and John Garamendi - and with the support and hard work of many members of the Peace Corps community, 108 members of the House of Representatives signed a Dear Colleague letter in support of increased Peace Corps funding. The letter supports President Obama's Peace Corps FY 2012 funding request of $440 million, a $40 million increase from last year.

      We face an uphill climb, however.  Last month, Congress finalized its budget for the current fiscal year which included a nearly $26 million cut in Peace Corps funding.  That's a reduction of 6.5 percent and drops spending for the current year to just over $374 million.

      >> Did Your Rep Sign the Peace Corps Letter?

      Milwaukee meetingReady to Advocate in Person?

      Various Opportunities Are On the Way

      There are lots of opportunities to participate in advocacy meetings in the coming months.

      If you are coming to DC for the Peace Corps exhibits at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in late June or early July:  Take advantage of this trip to schedule meetings with your lawmakers!  Contact us as soon as possible, so we can help you prepare for those meetings.  No previous advocacy experience necessary.

      If you are going to be close to home anytime between August 1 - 15: Make plans to participate in our August District Meeting Days.  With Congress scheduled to be on recess, this is a great time to plan for meetings back near your home.  Contact us as soon as possible to help coordinate meetings in your state/region...You can be just like members of the Milwaukee Peace Corps Association (pictured above) who met last August with staff in the District Office of Senator Herb Kohl.

      And, don't forget to join us in Washington in September, as our 50th anniversary activities will kick off with an advocacy orientation on the evening of September 21st, and a full day of Capitol Hill advocacy on September 22nd.  More than 400 people have already registered for this event.  Register for advocacy day and other 50th events by clicking here.

      Blue RibbonBig Week for Global Education

      To build support for action on behalf of the estimated 70 million children around the world who don't have a chance to receive basic education, May 2nd through 8th has been designated as a Global Action Week to bring more awareness to this issue.

      How can you help?  For one thing, the simple act of wearing a blue ribbon will demonstrate solidarity and serve as an opportunity to engage others who will inquire about your ribbon.

      There's more.  A lot more.  Schools, families and communities in more than 100 nations are organizing a "Lesson For All" to build understanding and awareness about basic education.

      No matter how you take action, drop us a note, send us a photo and let us know how you took part in Global Action Week.

      Shriver Condolence Book Delivered

      Shortly after his passing, NPCA invited RPCVs to submit their recollections of Sargent Shriver to be compiled into a book of condolences for the family.

      Over a two-week period, we received almost 650 responses from individuals representing every decade of Peace Corps service, from virtually every state in the nation.

      Your reflections on Sargent Shriver were collected into a book of condolences and delivered to Sarge's son, Tim Shriver, last week at the offices of the Special Olympics.  Thanks to everyone who contributed to this remembrance.

      >>Read More

      Jenifer Bubenik
      Featured Advocate:

      Jenifer Bubenik
      Clayton, NC

      A serious ankle injury forced Jenifer Bubenik to return stateside in the course of her Peace Corps service as a Municipal Development volunteer in Honduras.

      Jenifer saw an NPCA flyer seeking volunteers and came to our offices to find out how she could help.  "Being here in the NPCA office has been a great experience.  I'd invite other (medevac'd PCVs) to do so."

      With Jenifer's ankle on the mend, our advocacy program put it to the test!. She helped distribute NPCA letters to approximately 200 congressional offices, urging lawmakers to sign onto the Peace Corps funding Dear Colleague letter (see story above).

      The workings of government is not a new experience for Jenifer. From 1999 - 2000, she served as a Legislative Assistant for then State Senator and current Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC).  Between 2005 - 2008, she was a Field Representative in the San Diego district office of Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).

      "I would like to see more of our representatives in Congress visit Peace Corps volunteers to see us in action and see how we are living," says Jenifer, who adds the Honduras Peace Corps program is planning for a reduction in volunteers due to budget cuts.  "I'd like to see funding spent on more sustainable projects, to make sure those projects keep going...I'd also like to see more professional volunteers with advanced degrees, and a continued expansion of the Fellows Program."

      Jenifer is scheduled to return to her Peace Corps assignment on May 19th.  We wish her the very best as she continues to serve our country, and thank her for her recent service to the NPCA community!

      Congress Schedules Peace Corps Hearing

      RPCV Advocates: In Their Own Words

      108 Support Peace Corps Funding Letter

      Be an Advocate in Person!

      Global Ed Week of Action Underway

      We Remember Sarge

      Featured Advocate is a PCV on the Mend

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      You still want to make a difference. Be a member to continue serving, connect with others, and support the legacy of the Peace Corps.

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      This Month's Featured Advocate...

      Jenifer Bubenik

      2010 - Present

      Clayton, NC

      Read More Below

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      Coming to PA in May

      TX in June

      NPCA Advocacy Coordinator Jonathan Pearson will be on the road during the next two months with the hope of connecting with you!

      Current plans call for a May 21st advocacy gathering in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania in advance of a major gathering of the Peace Corps community May 22nd in Philadelphia.

      Also in the works?  A multi-stop swing through Texas in mid-to-late June.

      Contact us for more details or if you want to help plan these visits.

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      50th Anniversary Contests with Prize Money!

      Are you an RPCV (or group of RPCVs) with a great idea for an overseas development project?

      Or, do you know an RPCV champion who should be honored for his/her continued commitment to serving others?

      Follow this link to read about NPCA's Shriver Award and our Global Community Project competition.

      Please don't delay.  The deadline for submissions is approaching.

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      50th Anniversary Events

      Renew Membership

      Polyglot-NPCA Blogs

      NPCA Ning Community

      Peace Corps

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      Find us on Facebook

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      A New Online Store
      With Lots of New Items!
       PC Logo Tote Bag

      Check out our new online store !  We offer a wide selection of Peace Corps and NPCA logo merchandise--from t-shirts and coffee mugs, to pins and license plate frames.

      A portion of your purchase supports the efforts of the National Peace Corps Association.

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      White House

      United States Senate

      Contact Information for Senators

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My Irish Surnames: Are you Lucky?

March 14, 2009 at 9:43 am 1 comment

“Lucky You” if any of my Irish surnames matches yours!  And “Lucky Me” as well.  Here are my Irish surnames:

Crum, St. Lawrence, Tasker, Upton, Weir, Barnewall, Boix, Colville, Cusack, Dunne, Luttrell, DeLuteral, Murphy, Neal, Nugent, Polk, Porter, Rockfort

If you want me to compare my names with your Irish kin, just send me an email:  gtownma@yahoo.com

Entry filed under: Carnival. Tags: , .

Family Tree Maker 2009 Features (Guest Author Bob Larson) Genwriters Review

1 Comment Add your own

  • 1. Kathryn  |  March 18, 2009 at 7:11 am

    Hi! I’m visiting from the parade! My 3rd Great Grandmother was Elizabeth “Betty” Dunne from Co. Laois, Ireland. It is a fairly popular surname for the area so I don’t know if there would be a connection. I also have some Dunne’s in the family through marriage. Good luck finding more family!

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My zeen blowed apart

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How do you get help with this issue theres no 800# to contact.
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Whew. What An Amazing Weekend – Women Of Hope Retreat 2012

I spent this past weekend on the North Shore with 140 of God’s LOVEliest women at my church’s 2012 women’s retreat!

the women of hope

I’m fired up, filled to overflowing, loved, happy, encouraged, humbled, grateful, and … exhausted!  Hence, this post isn’t the actual rundown post.  No, this weekend was so full of post-able pieces of wisdom, insights, joy, fun, photos, and good ideas it’s going to take me a hot minute to compile it all together.  I think I’ll actually make a few posts.

I was so honored to be on the ministry team, working at the event.  I was in charge of the tie dye event and I came up with/led some ice breakers.  I want to post about the group bonding games we did in hopes that others could take the ideas and use them for their own events (Annmarie and I co-led the ice breakers and we are oh so clever, we invented our own games for the ladies to play!!).

The ministry was amazing.  We had devotionals, testimonies, teachings, praise and worship, prayer, prayer and more prayer.  Eight women were baptized in the ocean! EIGHT! Countless women had their faith renewed, re-ignited; sins were purged, the enemy was attacked, others were forgiven.

ocean baptism - amen!

The theme of retreat was LOVE.  We are Lovely, Overcoming, Victorious, and Eternal.

I learned so much, I just feel so pumped up.  I’ve been falling off in my obedience and commitment to God, and this weekend really gave me a chance to dig in and reconnect.  I was able to lay a lot of my own junk down and serve my God, happily.

So, there is MUCH to share, much to say and much to show.  Just give me a few days to collect my thoughts (and notes – I used like seven different notebooks, so everything is all scattered and out of order)… and a series of posts will ensue!

camp mokule'ia is amazing.

If you have any requests of stuff you’d like me to talk about, lemme know.

Oh, and the location!  The location was epic.  Camp Mokule’ia is peaceful and amazing.  The new direction of the facility is to live and run the operations of the camp in a way that is most kind to the land it’s on.  Sustainable living is totally promoted with a new gray water system, aquaponics, composting, gardening, and beefed up recycling.  A hippie like me couldn’t be more excited, especially because Camp management bases all of their green-inspired efforts in Scripture!  I’ll be interviewing the owner of the Camp and giving a full explanation of all their new eco-friendly installations, what the impact has been like, the theological inspiration for the efforts, and how camped have been responding.  So rad, right!?!?

I’m excited to get cracking.  Love to all of my sisters – thank you for a wonderful weekend.

Thanks for reading! xoxo, hhr

4 responses

  1. This is really exciting! I’m looking forward to all of it. And I think you’ll find that the best way to keep your relationship with God intimate is just to let him love on and through you. I don’t love on people for what I get out of it, but I find the more I give away, the more I have, to the point I don’t even know how to give it away fast enough!

    • i think it’s just been about time management and laziness, honestly. i know what i should do, and i know what i like to do… but for the past couple months i’ve just slowly lapsed. so it was good to get a nice volt to re-charge me!

  2. Pingback: Retreat IceBreakers – Copy, Borrow, Steal! | happyhippierose

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Bold Ambition Campaign

Re-Thinking Education:

Because Bold Ambition allows our faculty to create transformative opportunities for their students — inside and outside of the classroom

The landscape of American education is changing.  Leading educational expert, Sir Ken Robinson, argues that it’s about creating a movement in education in which students develop their own solutions, with external support based on a personalized curriculum.  Harrisburg Academy has recognized this sea change and has responded by creating the Centers for Experiential Learning & Innovation.

The Centers are about students getting their hands dirty, asking tough questions, working on long-term projects, finding their passion, and discovering what drives them.  The program is made up of five academic centers that are directed by a faculty member.

Centers Infographic for Campaign Site

The Centers provide customized individual learning opportunities that complement the Academy’s traditional liberal arts core and International Baccalaureate curriculum.  Most importantly, they provide structure for real-world opportunities; students are able to participate in both in-school and off-campus experiences in a variety of locations — in Central Pennsylvania or around the world.

Today, school is becoming more standardized — at Harrisburg Academy, we believe in reaching out to the individual, and that with the proper mentorship and guidance, students are able to find their passions, write their own story, and cultivate their diverse talents to be successful when they go out into the world.

Harrisburg's Only Independent School,
Serving Students Preschool - 12th Grade.

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© 2017 Harrisburg Academy, All Rights Reserved
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Tel: 717-763-7811 | Fax: 717-975-0894 | Contact Us


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A Test for the Fainthearted

From the May 2002 Issue

View more from the

Three years ago, almost anyone could have been an entrepreneur; all you needed was a hot—or even lukewarm—idea. Billions of dollars went into ventures hatched by fresh-faced youngsters with, at most, a couple of years’ experience at pricey consultancies or high-tech companies under their belts. So they had little business experience? No problem; they could always find a grown-up, like eBay CEO Meg Whitman, to handle the operations. Not surprisingly, many young people came to believe that entrepreneurship was a safe career choice. More than a few of their elders, too, underestimated the risks involved in financing start-ups and ended up pouring millions of dollars into doomed ventures.

The economic downturn has shattered those illusions. Now, as we sift through the debris of hundreds of failed Internet companies, it’s a good time to ask the hard questions that many would-be entrepreneurs—and those who bankrolled them—overlooked in the heady days of the boom: What really makes an entrepreneur? What characteristics set successful entrepreneurs apart, enabling them to start ventures against all odds and keep them alive even in the worst of times? Do you have those characteristics, and if you don’t, can you develop them?

The truth is, real entrepreneurship is a far cry from managing an established business and farther still from the sanitized model that became popular during the late 1990s. Over the past five years, I have studied more than 50 startups—some successful, some not—in 20 countries. My research has uncovered intriguing similarities in ways that successful entrepreneurs behave, similarities that hold true no matter the country or industry involved. Winning entrepreneurs feel comfortable skirting the boundaries of propriety. They are passionate enough about their ideas to assume enormous personal risks—powerful enemies, bankruptcy, even jail—to realize their dreams. However grand their visions, they are ready to start small and patiently scrabble in the mud for any deal they can swing. Profoundly opportunistic, they will do whatever it takes to win the confidence of their customers and investors, knowing that simply staying in business is the only thing that matters.

I’ve distilled my findings into five straightforward, if discomforting, questions that I see as a kind of litmus test for the potential entrepreneur. By posing these questions to yourself—and answering them with complete honesty—you can help yourself begin to understand if you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

Are You Comfortable Stretching the Rules?

All businesspeople have to be a little devious at times—it goes with the territory. But entrepreneurs are different. They’re not just willing to bend the rules; they revel in it. In fact, most start-up success stories I’ve heard contain at least one episode of an audacious entrepreneur using some outrageous tactic to swing a crucial deal or find the resources to get an idea off the drawing board.

Consider the case of two young entrepreneurs who were trying to set up a mail-order business in the late 1990s. A venture capital company had given them seed money, and they needed to quickly recruit a team of two dozen seasoned marketers to create the first catalog. But the entrepreneurs hadn’t rented an office yet. Equipped with only a cell phone and computer each, they were working out of their bedrooms. Since the labor market was tight, they knew that the best talent would not bother to show up for interviews unless they could present their company as an established concern. So the enterprising duo decided to live two white lies.

First, they published a large ad in their country’s leading business newspaper describing themselves as a “fast-growing multinational company.” Although this statement wasn’t exactly true, it wasn’t false either, since, the entrepreneurs reasoned, they planned to expand into other countries in the region. And the ad worked: More than 1,000 applicants responded to it. With résumés in hand, the entrepreneurs rented a plush suite for one day at the local Four Seasons and interviewed selected candidates there. Their deceptions, the entrepreneurs believe to this day, heightened the company’s appeal and thereby attracted talented people. And that, in turn, increased the chances of the business’s success. For the record, by 2001 the company had 600 people on staff and had indeed become a fast-growing multinational concern.

Do you have the stomach for such subterfuge? What if it puts your livelihood at risk or threatens your family’s financial well-being? Since start-ups operate on shoestring budgets, entrepreneurs often have to take big chances with their finances. Many have kept their businesses afloat by juggling personal credit cards or borrowing against their homes—without worrying much about the consequences. Fred Smith, the founder of Federal Express, is celebrated for his financial inventiveness. On at least two occasions, he used creative financing to rescue his fledgling parcel delivery company from bankruptcy. In 1973, when FedEx was on the verge of going belly up, Smith’s shenanigans landed him in court and almost got him sacked by his board. He was accused of knowingly making a false statement in order to obtain a $2 million loan from the Union National Bank of Little Rock in Arkansas.

Smith was acquitted, but it was a close call, and the experience taught him a salutary lesson all entrepreneurs should remember whenever they find it necessary to embellish the truth: You can bend the rules, but you can’t break them.

Are You Prepared to Make Powerful Enemies?

In general, smart entrepreneurs prefer to go after market niches that incumbents have overlooked. But they are not afraid to make powerful enemies. In fact, they often enjoy playing the underdog because, unlike many people, they don’t crave approval. The size of their rivals doesn’t bother them much either, and I’ve seen a number of smart entrepreneurs win by finding cunning ways to use their enemies’ own strengths against them.

Aleksandar Mandic embodies this pattern of behavior. In 1993, he started Brazil’s first Internet access provider, the eponymous Mandic, and quickly built a small but growing subscriber base. The business began to boom as Brazil woke up to the Internet’s potential, and by the mid-1990s, several competitors with deep pockets had entered the market. Among the new players was Universo Online (UOL), a joint venture between two of Brazil’s largest communication companies, the Abril Group and the Folha Group. The latter owned Folha de S. Paulo, Brazil’s largest-selling newspaper with a Sunday circulation of 1 million. UOL began with a splash: One Sunday morning in June 1997, every copy of Folha came bundled with a free CD. It was affixed to a full-page ad that extolled the virtues of using the CD to dial up and subscribe to UOL’s Internet service.

Mandic could not afford to take on UOL by distributing a million free CDs of his own, even if he had the time to do so. He decided to fight back, but in an imaginative—and cost-effective—way. The following Sunday, Mandic published his own full-page ad on the same page of Folha that had contained UOL’s ad. It didn’t include a CD but provided detailed instructions on how to use the UOL CD to connect to the Internet—this time by subscribing to the Mandic service. The dueling ads became a topic of conversation, especially on the Internet, and everyone marveled at the way Mandic’s company had upstaged its much larger rival.

UOL was furious, particularly since it shared a parent company with Folha. It complained, and the newspaper’s executives agreed to never again run Mandic’s ads. But this threat didn’t faze the company’s leader. He seized on the ban to launch a public campaign against Folha’s policies and the newspaper’s tight links with UOL. For months, Folha’s rivals were only too happy to keep the controversy alive, and Mandic won enormous popular support as the entrepreneurial David who had taken on a media Goliath.

Do You Have the Patience to Start Small?

In 1999, Tom Herman and Kaleil Isaza Tuzman, best friends since childhood, quit their comfortable jobs to start govWorks, with millions of VC dollars to back them up. Their goal was nothing if not grandiose: to use Internet payment systems to transform the way federal, regional, state, and local governments worldwide collected fees and taxes. To use the company’s own phrase, govWorks was about “all payments for all governments.”(The film Startup.com featured the company.)

Soon after Herman and Tuzman set up shop, they approached a venture capitalist for additional funding and for advice. He suggested that the company test and refine its business model by initially focusing on one payment operation, for parking tickets, in one U.S. city. The entrepreneurs almost bit off his head. “The leader in this market space is going to be a multibillion-dollar company,” Tuzman declared. He believed that by winning the support of umbrella organizations that represent many municipalities, such as the U.S. Conference of Mayors, govWorks could quickly go nationwide. But it didn’t work out that way. Tuzman and his partner underestimated how little the cities actually trusted the endorsements of the umbrella organizations. The big contracts did not come as quickly as the founders had expected, and in early 2001, the company was no longer in business.

GovWorks’s failure is a textbook example of the perils of grandiosity. Smart entrepreneurs recognize that start-ups cannot afford to pass on any opportunity, no matter how small. They see business much like a game of PacMan—you can bag big fish only by learning to swallow small ones. The best entrepreneurs also recognize that trying out a business model on a small scale helps them find out what their industry is about and lets them make mistakes at those times when they can still afford it. Growth, when it comes, is all the more sustainable as a result.

Back in 1987, Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals, a corporate veteran with 20 years of experience at the likes of Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson, decided to set himself up as Spain’s first pizza magnate and founded TelePizza. He believed that customers in Spain—and, indeed, throughout Europe—would respond enthusiastically to a branded chain that offered home delivery, as Domino’s does in the United States. Pujals recognized, however, that he knew little about making pizza or delivering fast food, let alone how such a business might function in the Spanish market. So he decided to start small, with a single shop in Madrid. In this way, he reasoned, he would be able to experiment with the economics and logistics of a pizza business and gain firsthand experience of his customers as well.

The outlet was an instant hit, but Pujals resisted the temptation to immediately replicate it. He waited a year before opening a second shop, and the delay paid off, because he had a much clearer idea about what would and would not work after his initial experience. During that first year, for instance, he found that Spanish customers felt more comfortable ordering takeout pizza once they had consumed one on the premises. So, in contrast to the setup at Domino’s, Pujals included an eating space in his store and experimented with the dining area’s size and décor. Ultimately, he discovered that a small, spartan dining room was good enough. Pujals also found it was usually the children’s idea to order pizza from home. As a result, TelePizza has consistently marketed its products as family food, targeting its messages to children as well as adults.

Expanding slowly also gave Pujals the chance to work out and test his business model. He was able to determine exactly what sort of investments he could expect future franchisees to make and how large an area of geographic exclusivity he needed to offer them. On the cost front, he found that to tap cheap student labor, franchisees would have to supply delivery personnel with mopeds, because most Spanish students, unlike their American counterparts, did not own motorcycles or cars.

As a result of Pujals’s initial caution, growth when it came was both fast and steady. When he sold the company in 1999 to the Spanish food conglomerate Campofrio, TelePizza spanned six countries with more than 600 outlets selling some $250 million worth of pizza a year. He had turned an equity investment of $100,000 into a fortune of more than $300 million in just 12 years.

Although many aspects of entrepreneurship favor the young, patience does not. Here, more seasoned businesspeople have the edge. The impatience and idealism of the young often lead them astray, pushing them to blindly adopt a get-big-fast philosophy—“going for scale,” as the dot-commers put it. This approach makes sense in certain contexts, especially for businesses like on-line recruitment sites, because their competitive advantage lies in the size of their networks. But it does not work for most start-ups. Among the unsuccessful ventures I’ve studied, many simply burned up their capital by trying to expand too soon. Entrepreneurs should be greedy, but they need to be patient as well.

Are You Willing to Shift Strategies Quickly?

Many would-be entrepreneurs place their strategies on a pedestal. Once they have the plan on paper, they try not to stray from it. Sticking to their guns, they believe, sends out a positive signal to customers, investors, and employees. Changing the plan, on the other hand, undermines credibility. Sometimes this conviction runs so deep that entrepreneurs appear more interested in pursuing the original strategy than in keeping their business afloat.

The harder it has been for a company to work out its strategy, the more trouble it has abandoning it. I studied one group of entrepreneurs who had developed a touch-free, sensor-based technology that enabled the precise locating of objects in a three-dimensional space. After much debate, the group decided to customize the technology for two markets: electric motors and handheld devices. Because the founders decided to focus exclusively on those two applications—and were unwilling to abandon that strategy—they missed out on a $100 million market opportunity to bundle their technology with other companies’ products. As a result of that strategic blunder, investors lost confidence in the entrepreneurs, who were forced to sell the business to a hardware manufacturer.

By contrast, smart entrepreneurs—and savvy investors—recognize that a new venture gains credibility more by simply surviving than by doggedly following its original strategy. They are quick to recognize when they have to change course, and they seldom hesitate to do so. Indeed, they often take pride in their ability to turn on a dime, painting their twists and turns in the rosiest of colors. That’s not to say that a good strategy is unimportant; it’s just that, in the course of day-to-day business, you don’t have the luxury of standing pat. You often have to shift from one strategy to another very quickly.

Consider the story of Andy Freire and Santiago Bilinkis. In January 1997, they set up Officenet, Argentina’s first catalog-based supplier of office products. By 1999, the company had grown into a profitable $20 million business. Their early success sparked big dreams, and Freire and Bilinkis began talking about turning Officenet into a multinational company—the Staples of South America. The original investors, however, were less than impressed by such bravado, believing that the proposed expansion would require more capital than the company could raise, and certainly more than they could provide.

Then, Submarino, a leading South American retailer of books, CDs, and consumer electronics—a south-of-the-border Amazon.com—proposed a merger with Officenet. Since that arrangement would provide Officenet with the level of investment it needed in order to grow, Freire and Bilinkis were happy to abandon their strategy of independence. Better yet, as they pointed out to their backers and employees, the combination could provide a gateway to markets outside Argentina. Officenet might not become the Staples of South America, conceded Freire and Bilinkis, but being a division of a Southern Hemisphere Amazon.com would do very nicely.

Ten months after the merger, however, circumstances had changed again. Submarino had become a victim of the Internet bust, forced to withdraw its application for a Nasdaq IPO. Freire and Bilinkis recognized at once that the writing was on the wall for Submarino—and for the entrepreneurs’ strategy. Freire and Bilinkis pulled out of the merger and reverted to their go-it-alone approach, knocking once again on doors that had shut them out the year before. To their surprise, the experience was different this time, even though market conditions had worsened. Investors, it turned out, were unfazed by Officenet’s twists and turns; they now saw Freire and Bilinkis as born survivors. Within three months, the two had raised more than $30 million in one of Latin America’s largest postcrash financing rounds. Today, despite Argentina’s economic woes, Officenet is a thriving independent concern.

Are You a Closer?

Successful entrepreneurs know how to seal deals. They possess an almost uncanny ability to come in, often at the last moment, and elbow their rivals aside. However tough the market or small the transaction, they know exactly what they must give up—and what they can get away with—while finalizing deals under pressure.

N.R. Narayana Murthy, the man who cofounded the Indian software company Infosys Technologies in 1981, was nothing if not a closer. His company had to break into international software markets because the local one was virtually nonexistent. To succeed, Infosys needed to build a track record, which meant closing deals quickly.

Murthy took charge of sales, landing Infosys’s first contract with a U.S. company—a six-year deal to upgrade the computer system at a large, New York-based textile distribution company. The upgrade—from a 16-bit processor to a 32-bit one—was quite involved, requiring that much software be rewritten. Over the next 20 years, Murthy spent little time at home. In 1990, he lived in France for three months, closing just one deal. His efforts paid off. Today Infosys is a serious contender in the customized software market in the United States and Europe, with $400 million in revenues and a market capitalization of around $8 billion.

Being a closer involves more than a willingness to go the distance in negotiating deals. You also have to be comfortable repeatedly making life-or-death decisions in the dark. Most executives-turned-entrepreneurs don’t realize how big the gap is between making decisions in established corporations and making them in start-ups. And that’s one of the main reasons many first-rate executives find it hard to adjust to the entrepreneur’s world. Not only are decisions in a start-up more important—even small errors can kill the business—but they are of an entirely different nature.

In a corporation, managers are usually making the same sorts of decisions every day and are surrounded by other people making similar choices. While corporate managers obviously have to operate with a degree of uncertainty—they may not have all the information required—the environment is familiar, and that fosters self-confidence. In a start-up, however, managers don’t have those comfort layers. If they can’t trust their gut, they’ll freeze.

In one case I studied, a senior investment banker had left a prestigious Wall Street company to join a start-up established by a former colleague. Wall Street traders are not known for their indecision, and this one had been a star, staking millions of dollars on his trading instincts and closing dozens of securities deals daily. But his killer instincts deserted him once he left the familiar environment of the trading floor. He even had trouble choosing which office supply vendor to go with. As he put it: “I felt I needed more and more information every time I tried to make a decision.”

Real entrepreneurs know that using their time to gather extensive information is a luxury they sometimes cannot afford. They are more concerned that a decision be made than that it be the best possible choice. One entrepreneur I studied estimated that he had had to make around 150 key decisions before he was ready to do business—from naming his company to hiring his first employee. If he hadn’t been able to trust himself to make those decisions quickly, he might have never launched the company.

Learning the Ropes

What happens if you answered “no” to any of my questions? Does that mean you can never start a business? Not necessarily. It certainly helps to have an entrepreneurial personality from the get-go, but you can learn some of the traits I’ve described. And even if you can’t master them all, you can sometimes make allowances for your deficiencies.

If you’re not a natural-born entrepreneur, the worst thing you can do is to simply dive into your first venture. Rather, you should work a few years for a fast-growing company, ideally in the same industry in which you want to start your business. It’s a fairly risk-free way to get exposure to entrepreneurial life, and with some close encounters already behind you, you’ll feel more comfortable with the risks, twists, and turns of managing your own business.

You might also look for a mentor—perhaps someone from the fast-growing company where you learned the ropes—who can help you identify which entrepreneurial traits you most need to develop. I’ve found that successful entrepreneurs are usually happy to act as mentors; they see it as a way of giving back. But don’t take all your mentor’s advice at face value. As you become more successful as an entrepreneur, your mentor may begin to feel threatened and may even seek to undermine your confidence. As we’ve seen, entrepreneurs have sizable egos.

You should also look for a partner. Few people are all-round entrepreneurs, gifted with every necessary trait. Your partner should be an equal—a cofounder; an early-stage venture capitalist; or an older, experienced corporate executive hired to fill a senior position such as CEO. Sometimes the partner will act as a brake by bringing your grand visions down to earth or by reminding you of the limits of the law. At other times, though, it can be the partner who pushes you to close the deal or to challenge your assumptions.• • •

Being an entrepreneur isn’t for everyone, and even those who have the right stuff find the path to success much rougher and, usually, much longer than they had anticipated. But if you start your journey with a clear sense of your own capabilities and the gaps in them, you’ll be much more likely to succeed in your venture.

A version of this article appeared in the May 2002 issue of Harvard Business Review.

Walter Kuemmerle is an associate professor at Harvard Business School in Boston.


text:
Ahhhhhh! What ACTULLY next!?

So today I had an appointment at the Eye hospital as I've got double vision due to radiotherapy on a central cytoma (brain toumer) I got referd about 12 months ago and I had an x Ray then all of a sudden they stopped seeing me. After telling my brain toumer doctor he rung them and that's why I was there today.

The reason for this post is, why did they loose me/forget about me? Then why when they see me do they no nothing about me like I'm a brand new patient? Read my notes it's all there, I know your bussy and my file is big, but.... Also I've been told 2 different types of treatment 1. Botox but nope I can't have that for my condition. Obviously! So looks like 2. Surgery. You actually kidding!

The reason I say this is....I've all ready had 4 brain surgerys, I've had 30 sessions of radiotherapy and I need a new kidney maybe dialysis. AND NOW I NEED NEW EYES! Ok so maybe not new eyes but surgery on them. I know I don't NEED to have it but........

It's been such a long day and my eyes are so tiered, but I just needed to vent a little.

Thanks fir listening x

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text:
I'm feeling so overwhelmed & frustrated tonight.

The odd thing is that I probably have a lot to be thankful for.

8 months ago I had no idea that I was so sick. As a matter of fact, I had no idea that I had been so sick for so long. I had an enormous sense of well being, and I identified with being a healthy vibrant person with a future.

I got a cold.

That's what I thought it was ... along with one warm day I tried to walk up two flights of stairs and my body wasn't cooperating. I thought that I was just a little out of shape and put it on my list to work out more ... do more yoga. I pushed myself to climb those stairs faster. I was way out of breath by the time I reached my destination, and had to sit and recover. It was rough.

Yet still, I believed it was just a summer cold.

I went to the doctor who did an ekg and felt it was weird so she sent me to get a chest xray.

That showed that my heart was enlarged.

I thought, okay well I'll just rest and I'll be okay

They ordered a right heart catheterization. The test results were that my internal lung pressures were at 87 when normal was at 25. That's when they diagnosed me as having PAH.

And when I read all the information out there, I was devastated.

Now it's been 10 months and I've been on a full range of medications. There have been improvements, and some great milestones, but the improvements do not continue and this month, the doctor who was hoping for continued improvements is concerned.

Now I"m on additional medication, and they are suggesting that I again reconsider a double lung transplant as a possibility if my trend continues.

But on a positive note, I am being considered for clinical trials for a cure for PAH ... in about three months after being stable on Letaris!

I'm hopeful.

I remember happier days out with the kids at the park, the zoo ... laughter, joy and celebrations...

Life was different when I identified with being healthy ... my perspective was wider, brighter ... I felt balanced...

Now all that is changed...

I freak out when my oxygen levels dip down. If I"m reclined back, I sit up and watch my oxygen levels rise back up. I sigh a little relief that my dips are because of position maybe ...

I look at everything and wonder if its a setback or a step in the right direction...

I hope my body finds a way to cure itself ...

I panic when I have an episode where breathing is difficult ...

I work out, I walk, I eat healthy.

I pray.

I pray for a cure.

I pray that the clinical trials are the answer ...

I pray that this is the cure.

The doctors are saying that It looks hopeful; It looks like this could be the answer for so many of us who have this illness.

Pray ...

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7 Replies

  • I read your post with tears - you describe exactly how my husband feels and to some extent myself. The only way is to stay positive try to find a small sign of happiness each day - to bring a smile. May the gods smile in you and take good care, lots of love TAD xx

  • TEQUILA: Your message left me feeling very thoughtful. I really wish and pray that all your health problems will lessen, and for you to caught your life back. We are always here if you want a sympathetic ear. XX

  • Hi TC and welcome. I am so sorry to hear you are struggling with PAH - no wonder you feel frustrated and overwhelmed. Could you put up a link of the trial you are hoping to participate in ( we are interested in all lung related trials). I hope the outcome of the trial is successful and brings hope to all with PAH.

    I sooo hope medics come up with something which will improve your health for you. Please come on again and chat with us.

    Healing hugs

  • Hope and prayers are a good thing to hang onto TC and I do so wish you well. Let's hope for some good news and I pray that you will be helped.

    Take care xxxxx

  • I'm so sorry...take care xxx

  • So sorry to hear this. I do hope the treatments help you. Life can be so unfair.

  • Here's the information on the newest discoveries & a possible cure for PAH :

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text:
Week 1 Run 1 - Time to start over

It was raining and I locked myself out of the house so not a good start but I did it instead of just saying I'm going to do it and that's the most important thing.

I tried couch to 5k a couple of years ago and I loved it but got to week four when I decided to stop and I cant remember why!

Back then in my very first run I got to about the 6th repetition before I felt like I was going to pass out. This time it was tiring but I managed it no problem, which is great news, it means in the two years with endless attempts to get fit even though I've put on weight since I must have gained fitness somehow.

I tried a couple of times to start again but I always tried to jump into week 3 because I knew I was capable, maybe it was too much too soon so this time I have chose to start from the beginning and stop rushing everything.

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3 Replies

  • well done jodieM92 I have just done wk 1 rp2 and finding it hard going but determined to keep it up good luck

  • Well done for getting out there and on with it...despite the setbacks .Hope your playlist spurred you on.

    Good luck with the programme,take it steady ....it works :)

    Keep posting your progress !

  • I was really happy with how my playlist worked out, thanks!

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text:
hii my name is swetha (24) unmarried my height: 5'8 weight : 58 kgs, last year dec i diagnosed with pcod, my periods are regular, present im having lite acne problem and lot of unwanted hair, doc prescribe me krimson and finast, and pcod tonic, my LH level is 14.83, FSH level, prolactin level: 40.82, testosterone level: 0.346, what to do to cure unwanted hair and im facing lot of hair loss, all this symptoms are facing past 3 months kindly suggest me, im feeling very depression and not going outside with this facial hair & skin allergies also

27 Replies

  • Dear Swetha,i am sorry I don't want to be harsh or rude, but one must accept the fact and truth of life.PCOS has got no cure at present. Yet there are many positives for you,your weight is well controlled,your menses is regular.your treating physician has prescribed you medicines,please continue and remain in contact with him/her. A few life style changes,I am sure you must be aware of,may be helpful.please do not let your weight creep up,even a little reduction in wt.has great beneficial effect.Like wise a little enhanced physical activity is surely to help you in more than one way. Of course unwanted hairs are a cause of concern at least from cosmetic point of view, but please do not let it hinder your normal life,and go for more outings and enjoy life without thinking about your affliction or your appearance . All the best wishes.

  • ok thank you for ur reply :)

  • Hi Swetha,

    Pcos can be managed well with diet changes. I was watching (Food Hospital on an English Channel) a few years back and this girl was weighing 100 kg and very irregular periods and a lot of facial hair. The Food Doctors put her on a special diet for 3 months and she lost a dramatic amount of weight, her periods became regular and facial hair growth went down noticeably. She used to eat a lot of fast foods like chips, crisps, chocolates and pizzas. She started eating healthy calorie breakfast with lots of raw foods. Having a main meal in the morning with very light dinner. She completely cut down on sugar, (complex and simple) as even naturally sweet foods contribute towards it. Started exercising. Took vitamin D, Calcium and Magnesium supplements. And upped the Omega 3s. Stopped eating any cooked foods that has been high heated like frying, grilled, searing.

    Consult your dietician before embarking on this diet though.

    Hope this helps.

  • PCOS is associated with high-insulin/IGF-1 levels; these hormones affect other hormones, including testosterone.

    Reduce your carbohydrate intake to between 100g and 140g per day from milk, peas, sweetcorn, chickpeas, lentils, quinoa, sweet potato, barely-ripe banana, berries, and above ground vegetables.

    Have a small amount of meat, game, poultry, fish, seafood, eggs or cheese at each meal, and eat sufficient natural-fat to make up the balance of your intake to achieve your weight-management needs.

    Please report back to let us know how well you are doing.

  • sure thank u, actually im drinking milk every day @ night from past 3 years, can i continue the same, if i stop drinking milk, im losing weight very badly and getting backache and joint bones pains

  • Milk should not contribute to your PCOS provided it is not processed (yoghurt causes excess insulin for instance). You need to watch the quantity though - 1/3 pint of milk has 10g carbohydrate. Try and even your carb intake over the day; breakfast, middle, and evening meal, keeping to the guidelines outlined above.

  • ok thank u soo much

  • sir did endocrinologist balanced my imbalanced hormones

  • I'm not a doctor sorry, you'll have to discuss that with them.

    What I will say is that eating optimally will turn up your repair mechanisms to get you well as soon as you are capable.

    Sample Meal Plan:

    Soft Cheese

    2 Eggs any style

    2 Serving spoons vegetable casserole.

    Cheese or nuts

    1 small barely-ripe banana or 1 medjool date

    3 oatcakes or quinoa (90g cooked weight).

    1 medium sweet potato or 1 cob sweetcorn or chickpeas (100g cooked weight).

    non-starchy roast vegetables or stir-fry greens

    palm-size meat or fish or seafood or poultry or game

    whipped double-cream and/or coconut.

  • ok thank u

  • I got some clue that only Homeopathy can treat it better.Lifestyle and Prevention

    One of the best treatments for PCOS is a healthy lifestyle. A healthy diet low in refined carbohydrates is important, as this can help regulate blood sugar levels. Exercise can also help the body regulate insulin and keep excess weight off. Losing weight is challenging with PCOS, but doing so can help reduce the male hormone levels in the body, and some women will begin to ovulate naturally. With a proper diagnosis, lifestyle changes and PCOS treatment, women can get relief from this condition and the overwhelming health problems it can cause.

    Polycystic ovary syndrome treatment starts with a proper diagnosis. Treatments are then chosen based on a woman's symptoms, age and future pregnancy plans. Treatment for PCOS may include:

    Birth control pills to regulate menstruation

    Insulin-sensitizing medications

    Ovulation induction to treat infertility

    Androgen-blocking medications

    Topical anti-hair-growth medications

    Other excess hair treatments

    Treatments for hair loss

    Acne treatments

    Removal of other skin problems

    But sorry I am not doctor. Argue with any good Homeopathy Doc.

  • Switch to a healthy diet -- LOW CARB HIGH FAT.

    HIGH CARB LOW FAT "FAD" will only make your PCOS worse with passage of time.

  • Dear swetha

    Just see whether the following link of any use

  • Use Flex seed 30 grams twice a day, Aswgandha Cap twice a day, Use turmeric -small pinch in Milk , and follow other remedies as suggested by other friends.

  • thank u soo much, can i use maca root ??

  • Yes , We called this Shaljam in Hindi ?

  • did it increased unwanted hair..??

  • I am not aware about it.

  • Hi Swetha,

    Have a read on MACA root first as many people have complained of a lot of weight gain with MACA supplements. And worrying about hair loss and hirsutism will only contribute towards your already existing problem, so learn to look at the positive side of everything :) And as I said you need Vitamin D, you'll only get the natural form from the sun so you need to go out. And resigning from your job is absolutely not helping. Now you have a lot of ample time to wallow over your problem whereas before you'd be busy at work so don't worry about it. Hope this helps..

  • Causes

    By Mayo Clinic Staff

    Doctors don't know what causes polycystic ovary syndrome, but these factors may play a role:

    Excess insulin. Insulin is the hormone produced in the pancreas that allows cells to use sugar (glucose) — your body's primary energy supply. If you have insulin resistance, your ability to use insulin effectively is impaired, and your pancreas has to secrete more insulin to make glucose available to cells. Excess insulin might also affect the ovaries by increasing androgen production, which may interfere with the ovaries' ability to ovulate.

    Low-grade inflammation. Your body's white blood cells produce substances to fight infection in a response called inflammation. Research has shown that women with PCOS have low-grade inflammation and that this type of low-grade inflammation stimulates polycystic ovaries to produce androgens.

    Heredity. If your mother or sister has PCOS, you might have a greater chance of having it, too. Researchers also are looking into the possibility that certain genes are linked to PCOS.

  • in my family nobody has pcos, even i dint get any crams or any other symptoms, but recently past 5 months im facing too much problems, when i started medication im facing it, is there any way to get rid from unwanted hair, im feeling very cry with this un wanted hair & horrible hair loss.... Kindly suggest me im crying daily, i resigned my job also :(

  • I am sorry,you should not have resigned. Any way, restart your life and try to get yourself engaged in a suitable job.

    BTW a few very sensible suggestions have come your way ,think about them seriously. Please remember life style changes will bring a sea of beneficial changes . Here I am repeating what has already been said,stop eating sugar and sugary products, packaged food of all sorts are an emphatic NO. Go for healthy and nutritional diet and do not let your weight creep up. Again I repeat go for outings and I am sure things will change ,sooner than later, please ,please do not cry and get into depression. Nothing is lost,it is your WILL and DETERMINATION that will make a lot of difference. A new world is waiting for you with open arms.

    Good luck.

  • @Swetha --

    Many of them there will discuss diets as a solution like I did in my first post, like here -- where it talks of extreme end of LCHF diet -- Ketogenic diet (though some self professed experts here aren't even aware of what nutritional ketosis is):

    Like we diabetics on LCHF love VCO, there's a talk of virgin coconut oil (VCO a MCT) also. Get your insulin resistance don and you will feel happy that you did. Diet is the only way because drugs will fail long-time. You have to decide to change your diet. Mayo and others will never let you handle insulin resistance. So called healthy and balanced diet is no good for diabetics and PCOS.

  • thank u for ur reply

  • Hi swetha

    You can verify this center for treatment but be about this treatment if some availed in this group may write here.

    yothsana Nagesan

    146, Womens Center and Hospitals

    Near New Bus Stand

    Mettupalayam Road

    Coimbatore - 641043

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text:
9dp5dt BFP? (and spotting) Daren't dream yet!! 🙏🙏🙏🍀🍀🍀💕💕💕

9dp5dt BFP? (and spotting) Daren't dream yet!! 🙏🙏🙏🍀🍀🍀💕💕💕

After getting a faint line yesterday (8dp5dt) I started to spot in the afternoon (brown-red) and it wasn't that much. Since then very little on my pad (sorry tmi).. more like a wipe than any drops of blood. Still brown which is in told better. Tested again this morn (9dp5dt) at 5am with 2 tests to make sure and there is definitely a line... we think it's slightly darker than yesterday if not at least the same. Im hoping the trigger shot is out my system by now?? (It's 16 days since I took it). Otd is 23rd (12dp5dt).

Has anyone else experienced spotting after a faint/not so faint BFP?

Pic attached although it doesn't show very well....and trying to keep positive and not give up hope yet! Will ring the clinic later. Good luck to you all 🍀🍀🍀🍀 xxx

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12 Replies

  • Same happened to me. I tested at 6dp5dt to get a very faint line on an internet cheapie and kept getting very faints for two days. At 9dp5dt I bought a Clearblue (not digital) and got a reply strong positive in the afternoon. In the same wee, I went to wipe and found I had started bleeding. I called the clinic and was told to increase the progesterone. I bled for about three weeks, just brown blood. I am about 38 weeks now!

  • That's really positive thanks for sharing and hope all goes well for you xx

  • 3 Sleeps my love... so far so good... stay positive! :) x x x

  • It looks promising. I made a mistake and tested on saturday and got a bfn. I will wait till friday but not feeling positive. X

  • On Sat when you tested would that have been your 5dp5dt? It's far too early to test hun. Keep the faith xxx

  • P.s. When's your OTD Sunny_skies ? Good luck xxx

  • Thanks hun. My OTD is friday 24th. Going to hold out till then. Best wishes for yours.

  • Oh this is amazing! Congratulations!! Is today your OTD Kat9lives? xx

  • Thanks lovely. Not all confirmed yet and been spotting so i dont know what to think.... Otd is Thursday.... counting down the days! X

  • Praying it sticks! Positive thoughts x

  • Not long to wait now but things are looking good! Keeping my fingers crossed for you xx

  • Hi Kat9lives. Hope all remains "positive" for your official testing day tomorrow. Thinking of you. Diane

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text:
Trans Health Talk

Trans folks are those whose gender identity, expression, or behavior is not traditionally associated with their birth sex. Some trans individuals experience gender identity as incongruent with their anatomical sex and may seek some degree of sex reassignment surgery or hormonal treatments. Others may pursue gender expression through external self-presentation and behavior. In honor of National GLBT Health Awareness Week (March 26th-30th), I give you:

5 Things Trans Persons Should Discuss with their Healthcare Provider

(Compiled from info provided by the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association [GLMA] and the Centers for Disease Control [CDC])

Hormone therapy may give desirable effects for those who are transitioning, but it also carries risks. Estrogen may cause blood clotting, high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar and water retention. Testosterone carries the associated risk of liver damage. Some trans persons bypass the health care system by using injectable silicone, often administered by non-medical persons, instead of injectable estrogen. Silicone used in this manner may actually migrate in the tissues and cause disfigurement years later. Hepatitis may also spread through the use of shared needles. The CDC recommends that hormone use be monitored by the patient and provider. Utilizing the health care system not only ensures safety in hormone therapy use, but also regulates the dosage of hormone use so that the desired effects can be obtained.

Trans men who have not had surgical removal of the uterus, ovaries, or breasts are still at risk to develop cancer of these organs. Trans women are at risk, although low, for cancer of the prostate. Even if your gender identity or expression do not coincide with your internal reproductive organs, it is important not to neglect their health.

STDs and Safe Sex

Risky behaviors may be high among trans persons, according to multiple HIV/AIDS trans needs assessments. Behaviors that may put persons at risk for contracting an STI include having multiple sex partners and irregular barrier method contraceptive use. Trans folks also face stigma and discrimination, which exacerbates their STI/ HIV risk, since the stigma of a trans status is associated with lower self-esteem, increased likelihood of substance abuse and survival sex work in male-to-female trans individuals, and lessened likelihood of safe sex practices.

Alcohol and Tobacco

Due to the social isolation, unemployment and other factors affecting trans folks, feeling of depression and anxiety may lead to alcohol use. Alcohol combined with sex hormone administration increases the risk of liver damage, while risk of heart attack and stroke are increased in those who smoke tobacco and take estrogen or testosterone.

Fitness (Diet & Exercise)

Many trans folks work long hours in order to cover the medical costs of transitions, which insurance often does not cover. Exercise and proper nutrition are important however, especially prior to sex reassignment surgery as they will reduce a person’s operative risk and promote faster recovery.

Some people may be reluctant to share the details of any previous transitioning they have undergone when seeking a new health care provider. The GLMA suggests that trans folks share their medical and health history with their medical providers in order to allow their medical personnel to provide the best possible and most relevant care.

If you identify as trans, intersex or genderqueer and would like to connect with others that do or continue to have discussions relevant to trans health, check out the UNC Chapel Hill LGBTQ Center by stopping by their office in SASB North 3226, and attending their Trans Talk Tuesdays from 6:15-7:15pm at Open Eye in Carrboro on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month.

The UNC Campus Health Services website also has a page specific to health related issues for trans folks. Check it out here.

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text:
Btrfs is under heavy development, but every effort is being made to keep the filesystem stable and fast. Because of the speed of development, running the latest possible Linux kernel is highly recommended.

More Information on Btrfs is available at https://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Btrfs.

Recent benchmarks are available here https://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Main_Page#Benchmarking.

  • Extent based file storage
  • 2^64 byte == 16 EiB maximum file size
  • Space-efficient packing of small files
  • Space-efficient indexed directories
  • Dynamic inode allocation
  • Writable snapshots, read-only snapshots
  • Subvolumes (separate internal filesystem roots)
  • Checksums on data and metadata
  • Compression (gzip and LZO)
  • Integrated multiple device support
    • File Striping, File Mirroring, and File Striping+Mirroring implementations
  • Efficient incremental backup
  • Background scrub process for finding and fixing errors on files with redundant copies
  • Online filesystem defragmentation
  • Offline filesystem check

Ubuntu-specific subvolume layout in 11.04 and later

In Ubuntu 11.04 and later, the installer sets up btrfs with a specific layout:

The default subvolume to mount is always the top of the btrfs tree (subvolid=5).

Subvolumes are created below the top of the btrfs tree as needed, e.g. for / and /home, it creates subvolumes named @ and @home. This means that specific options are needed in order to mount the subvolumes, instead of the default btrfs tree top:

  • The @ subvolume is mounted to / using the kernel boot option rootflags=subvol=@

  • The @home subvolume (if it is used), is mounted via the mount option subvol=@home in fstab.

How to work with snaphots in Ubuntu's layout

In order to work with snapshots of / or /home in the Ubuntu layout it is very convenient to mount the btrfs filesystem at a separate location, and work from the top of the btrfs tree, rather than from the mounted subvolumes.

sudo mount /dev/sdX# /mnt

Create snapshots

To create a snapshot use

sudo btrfs subvolume snapshot /mnt/@ /mnt/@_snapshot

this will create a snapshot of the @ subvolume named @_snapshot located also in the top of the btrfs tree.

Rollback to a snapshot

To roll back to a snapshot, you simply need to change its name to the name that ubuntu mounts, using

sudo mv /mnt/@ /mnt/@_badroot
sudo mv /mnt/@_snapshot /mnt/@

and reboot.

Delete a snapshot

To delete a snapshot use

sudo btrfs subvolume delete /mnt/@_badroot

btrfs snapshots are subvolumes in themselves, and self-contained, deleting the old @ subvolume like this is fine, provided we have a replacement.

The btrfs-tools command ''set-default'' will break Ubuntu's layout

Since Ubuntu is set up to always keep the top of the btrfs tree as the default mounting subvolume it will break when using the btrfs-tools command set-default, since this command is specifically designed to change the default mounting subvolume.

The mount options for / and /home described above relies on the fact that the corresponding subvolumes @ and @home can be located below the default mounting subvolume, and if set-default is used, this is no longer the case.

If you have accidentally used set-default and want to revert, you can do the following

sudo mount /dev/sdX# /mnt
sudo btrfs subvolume set-default 5 /mnt

since the id 5 is a permanent alias for the top of the btrfs tree.

Fresh Install on 11.04 Natty

As of 11.04, it is possible to use only btrfs file systems with the caveat that grub 'MUST NOT' be installed to the boot sector of the btrfs volume containing /boot. See also Ubuntu Grub2 Bug 757446 and Ubuntu Grub2 Bug 759772. You must install it to either the parent (sda rather than sda1; MBR/Reserved Sectors) 'OR' use a dedicated /boot partition as described in the forum post below.

When installing Ubuntu in one large btrfs-Partition without an extra boot-partition, take care to keep about 1 Mib space free at the beginning of the disk. This is possible using the partition manager in the Ubuntu installer. When there is not this space, the installer fails at the end when trying to install Grub!

Install as Root on earlier Ubuntu versions

Converting Ubuntu 12.10 ext4 root filesystem

Boot a Live CD with a recent kernel.

Open a terminal and run these commands:

sudo su

Check the filesystem for errors.

fsck.ext4 /dev/sda1
btrfs-convert /dev/sda1

Mount the filesystem and prepare the chroot.

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
for i in dev dev/pts proc sys ; do mount --bind /$i /mnt/$i ; done
chroot /mnt

This displays the filesystem UUID. Copy it to the clipboard, or a piece of paper.

blkid | grep sda1

gedit /etc/fstab

Prepend the root filesystem line with a hash (#), to comment out it:

#UUID=1fe54331-f99a-4ef5-9bd4-a4fff6223e87 /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1

Add a new line for the btrfs root, like the following:

# The root was converted to btrfs.
UUID=a74f5787-aee1-4981-b7e6-fbd3cb6ac919 /               btrfs    defaults 0       1

Remember to paste the UUID that was in the output of blkid. It is different from the previous one.

Be careful to remove the ext4 "errors=remount-ro" option, otherwise the boot will fail with error "Root filesystem check failed".

To prevent GRUB boot error "Sparse file not allowed", edit the file /etc/grub.d/00_header (see <http://askubuntu.com/a/105178/24432> for more info).

gedit /etc/grub.d/00_header

Prepend this line with a hash (#):

#if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi

Now, we update grub.

grub-install /dev/sda # This prevents GRUB boot error "Unknown filesystem".

Shutdown, remove the Live CD, reboot.

Instructional forum post link

Please see http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=8716089&postcount=1

Managing Btrfs

Snapshots & Subvolumes

Create a subvolume:

btrfs subvolume create test

This creates a subvolume in your home area called test. It appears to be a directory.

Do a snapshot copy of a subvolume:

btrfs subvolume snapshot test snap-copy-one

This creates a subvolume in your home area called snap-copy-one complete with all the data contained in test at the time of the snapshot.

List your subvolume:

sudo btrfs subvolume list test

This lists your subvolumes. Root privileges and the name of one of your subvolumes is required.

Sample Output:

ID 264 top level 5 path home/myhome/test
ID 265 top level 5 path home/myhome/snap-copy-one

Delete your subvolume:

sudo btrfs subvolume delete test

Root privileges are required to delete subvolumes.

Adding Filesystem Compression

Edit /etc/fstab:

# <file system>                      <mount point>    <type>  <options>          <dump>  <pass>
proc                                        /proc  proc    nodev,noexec,nosuid   0  0
# / was on /dev/sda2 during installation
UUID=07e198ed-18a3-41ed-9e48-bde82ead65fc   /      btrfs   defaults, compress    0  1
# /boot was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=90983817-83f8-464f-a50c-39cd02317447   /boot  ext2    defaults              0  2
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=a3da3212-876f-4350-94b3-4b5b5040c871   none   swap    sw                    0  0

The compress option was added. Remount the filesystem using "sudo mount -o remount /" or simply reboot.

Compression algorithm:
Since kernel 2.6.38 you can choose between zlib (default) and lzo as compression algorithms. zlib has a higher compression ratio while lzo is faster and takes less cpu load. To use lzo you edit your fstab and add "compress=lzo" to your mount options as described above. Specifying "compress" equals "compress=zlib".

See Phoronix for a benchmark between zlib and lzo.

NOTE: Grub2 in 11.04 can't read lzo compressed root so you'll need a /boot partition to use it.

Display Filesystem Information

Show a device:

sudo btrfs filesystem show /dev/sda2

Displays information about device /dev/sda2.

Sample Output:

failed to read /dev/sr0
Label: none  uuid: 07e198ed-18a3-41ed-9e48-bde82ead65fc
        Total devices 1 FS bytes used 26.80GB
        devid    1 size 912.20GB used 28.27GB path /dev/sda2

Btrfs Btrfs v0.19

Show Filesystem Information for a path:

btrfs filesystem df /home/myhome

Displays information about path /home/myhome.

Sample Output:

Metadata: total=640.00MB, used=265.57MB
Data: total=27.00GB, used=26.54GB
System: total=12.00MB, used=12.00KB

Validate Filesystem Integrity

Fsck a device:

sudo btrfsck /dev/sda2

Does offline filesystem check of device /dev/sda2. Will not give sensible results for a mounted filesystem.

Sample Output:

found 28752076800 bytes used err is 0
total csum bytes: 27806792
total tree bytes: 277921792
total fs tree bytes: 233484288
btree space waste bytes: 76057148
file data blocks allocated: 35377807360
 referenced 28362235904
Btrfs Btrfs v0.19

Scrub a directory:

btrfs scrub Videos

Improve Filesystem Performance

Defragment a directory:

sudo btrfs filesystem defragment Videos

This only defragments the directory's index. The files within the directory are not affected. Files must be individually defragmented, e.g.:

sudo find Videos -exec btrfs filesystem defragment '{}' +

Spread data out evenly across the available devices

See https://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/FAQ#What_does_.22balance.22_do.3F for what a balance actually does, and when it should be used.

btrfs filesystem balance /home/myhome

This operation could take some time.

btrfs (last edited 2013-07-03 18:13:17 by alphapapa)


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Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies

An opportunity to create an individualized program of study

Your goals are unique, and your degree should be too.

Our Master’s and PhD programs let you pursue your individualized educational and professional goals

The School of Health and Exercise Sciences offers graduate degrees through the Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies (IGS) program program at UBC’s Okanagan campus. IGS offers students opportunities to pursue graduate studies across disciplinary boundaries, and to tailor their course of study to suit their particular needs. IGS programs are greatly facilitated by our smaller size, thereby allowing students to work more intimately with faculty across a variety of departments and disciplines. The structure allows for both interfaculty and intercampus arrangements for supervision and courses. The course and program requirements provide structure to ensure quality in both the breadth and depth of the student’s academic experience. Students may obtain a graduate degree at the Master or PhD level.

Details on the IGS Program can be found in the Academic Calendar or on the College of Graduate Studies website.

We are currently accepting applications from prospective graduate students. For information, please contact our graduate co-ordinator, Dr. Ali McManus.

Students are also encourage to contact their intended research supervisor directly with any questions. For individual faculty member homepages and contact information, please visit our faculty listing.

To apply, please visit the College of Graduate Studies website.


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Cricket: The Other White Meat

Look for it at a restaurant near you.

The Six-Legged Meat of the Future

By MARCEL DICKE and ARNOLD VAN HUIS, The Wall Street Times

Insects are nutritious and easy to raise without harming the environment. They also have a nice nutty taste.

This entry was posted in web links. Bookmark the permalink.

3 Responses to Cricket: The Other White Meat

  1. I read a similar article a while back; makes you realize that today’s taste buds may not be tomorrow’ history clearly shows. My friend Connie, a native of Mexico, has eaten bugs (fried) and says they are very good.

  2. Lea Ann says:

    Well, I’m glad I haven’t discarded that dead cricket in the corner of the basement. Actually just yesterday I watched Rick Bayless eat guacamole topped with roasted grasshoppers. As he held that chip holding a scoop of the bug topped guac in his hand, I was on the couch yelling “no RICK, DON’T DO IT” He did it.

  3. Mary says:

    Sometimes – just sometimes mind you – being old is a good thing. Perhaps I’ll not have to deal with 6 legged critters on my plate. It was a great read. I hope you have a good evening. Blessings…Mary

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Archive | January 2013

Storm Safety Checklist

As dumping rain from ex-cyclone Oswald continues through New South Wales after causing widespread destruction in Queensland over the weekend, we thought it would be a good time to remind you of what you can do around the home to ensure you’re minimising the risk of a disaster event damaging your property.

Identify dangers

The easiest thing you can do yourself as a home owner is locating loose objects in the backyard such as outdoor furniture and toys that may be a danger during strong winds or flash flooding. A secure shed or garage is a perfect spot for storing these items.

Repairs and maintenance

Broken roof materials, blocked gutters and downpipes are other causes of damage from storms. Ask your local Hire A Hubby to come ensure your roof and gutters are in good condition, clear of leaves and rubbish to avoid blocked drains, overflowing and backyard flooding.

Trees and branches

Large, loose branches and overhanging trees near your home are a potential hazard when a storm strikes. It is vital that you ensure surrounding trees are kept in a safe condition, so ask your local Hire A Hubby for a free quote on backyard maintenance before it’s too late!

For further information about preparing for severe weather events, call Hire A Hubby on 1800 803 339 or visit The best time do something is now!

Preparing for Australia Day

Australia Day is this Saturday, which means households across the nation will be hosting BBQs and spending the day lounging around decks and backyard pools. This week our Hubbies are giving you some tips on how to make the most of the space around your house to host the best Aussie Day bash yet.

If you don’t regularly use your deck, balcony or veranda and it’s in desperate need of some attention, it would be a good idea to get your local Hire A Hubby to come over and fix up a few things. It’s surprising what a coat of oil, or repainting and replacing broken railings can do for the overall look of the area.

There’s bound to be a game of backyard cricket at some stage throughout the day, so If your lawn or garden is looking a bit unruly, ask your local Hire A Hubby to come out and tidy it up for you.

Create a ‘you beaut’ garden atmosphere by placing pot plants around the perimeter of your backyard and seating facing inwards to create intimacy.

No Pool? No worries!

Remember to plan for a hot day by ensuring you’ve got adequate shade. Try to use the space inside your home as well as outside to not only maximise space, but to give people a chance to escape the heat. Some other old tricks are investing in a wading pool, stocking up on ice-blocks and having plenty of cold water on hand!

If there’s something you’d like to do around the house before Australia Day, give your local Hire A Hubby a call on 1800 803 339 for a free job quote or visit the website for further ideas.

Living clutter-free

Garages store all different kinds of things; primarily a car. We all know how easy it is for them to collect clutter like bikes, petrol cans, tools, lawn mowers, sporting equipment, boxes and old newspapers.

Here are some handy tips from our Hubbies to keep it organised and clutter-free:

Utilise the walls and ceiling

Most of the clutter in a garage accumulates on the floor, so aim to make use of the space on the walls and ceiling. Ask your local Hubby to come over and give you a quote to install some wall shelves and ceiling hooks. These are great for storing a variety of items that would otherwise remain on the floor.

Keep your tools in one place

Avoid your tools finding every corner of the garage. Have you ever gone to find a tool and it wasn’t there? Keep them all in one place with this handy storage unit from Bunnings. It’s easy to access and perfect for the home handyman.

If you don’t need it, sell it

If you’re going through your garage to clean it up, you might as well consider giving away things you don’t use or need. Hold a garage sale to dispose of unwanted items and get a bit of money in return.

These simple tips will help to create more space in your garage heading into 2013. If you need help with storage ideas or you’re planning something bigger, contact your local Hire A Hubby on 1800 803 339 or visit the website

Hire A Hubby’s New Year ‘renovations’

Start 2013 with a bang by getting onto those home improvement projects you decided you couldn’t do last year. Whatever your budget, there are plenty of ways you can get your house looking and feeling new again.

To get you started, our Hubbies are giving you some fresh ideas for around the home before the year gets away from you.

Fresh coat of paint

To start off the New Year, why not give your home a fresh coat of paint inside and out? Ask your local Hubby to come over and give you a quote on all the areas around the home that need refreshing. He can give you the best advice on colour schemes in areas such as the living room, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom.

Renew the fence

Are you guilty of neglecting your fence? While a fence can give your home character, it also protects your property, so make it your resolution this year to repair, replace or renew your property’s boundary. If buying a new fence, consider noise pollution and neighbouring properties.

Install a patio

Do you cross your fingers and hope that it won’t rain every time you plan a barbecue? If so, maybe it’s time you got your local Hubby to build a covered patio for you. This is a great way to not only be able to enjoy your outdoor area more often, but it will add value to your property in the long term.

If you are on a tight budget here are some ways your house can still be restored without emptying the wallet.

Fill the cracks and rid the creaks

Get cracking this New Year and touch up minor wall cracks and creaking doors that remind you of a horror movie. These aren’t a threat to your home’s structure but they will impact your properties sale potential when you’re looking to sell.

If you’ve discovered cracks and creaks and don’t have the skills or the time to fix them up, give your local Hubby a call for some assistance.

Revive the Kitchen (without the overhaul)

Kitchens and bathrooms don’t need brand new countertops to look fresh and state-of-the-art. Instead, new drawer handles are all you need. You can find a range of options at your local home improvement store – ask your Hubby if you need a hand. And, as far as the installation goes, if you can handle a screwdriver you can tackle the work yourself. If this isn’t the case for you, give your local Hubby a call for a hand.

Tackling these jobs early in the year will guarantee a long time before you worry about your house again.

If you find any of these ideas interesting and would like further information or an obligation free quote, call your local Hubby on 1800 803 339 or visit the site at


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Cordoba 15SM Soprano Ukulele
Cordoba 15SM Soprano Ukulele

Cordoba 15SM Soprano Ukulele

Regular price $ 115.00 Sale price $ 89.00

This item is currently out of stock. It will take up to 3 weeks to ship.

The Cordoba 15SM is a soprano size ukulele that features a mahogany top, back and sides. The fingerboard and body are bound with ivroid binding giving this entry level ukulele an elegant, old world appearance. Unlike most instruments in this category the Cordoba 15SM is designed to have an authentic abalone rosette and satin finish that make this an exceptional ukulele for the both beginners and enthusiasts alike. Completely handmade.

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We use this mailing list to send out announcements about workshops, concerts, sales, festivals, and other special events we host/sponsor/participate in. We don't send out more than 1 e-mail per week, and we never share or sell your contact information. We hate spam just as much as you do! We'd love to keep you in touch with what's happening at House of Musical Traditions. You always have the option to unsubscribe or change your email address.


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My #MeMadeMay Pledge

Although I only started sewing about a year ago (well, a little less than a year actually, I started in summer) my commitment to binge-watching the videos of sewing vloggers has meant that I have quite an in-depth knowledge of Me Made May, despite this being the first May that has passed since I’ve started sewing.

So – what is Me Made May? The idea (a wonderful idea at that) was born in the brain of Zoe Edwards of @sozoblog (on Instagram) eight years ago, and is a ‘challenge designed to encourage people who sew/ knit/ crochet/ refashion/ upcycle garments for themselves to wear and love them more.’ Each person taking part in #MMMay17 sets a challenge for themselves that has something to do with their handmade wardrobe, whether that is to wear a handmade item each day, one handmade item each week, or a crafty task – like upcycling three things in the month of May.

Which brings us to my pledge, which you can copy and paste from Zoe’s blog. Bear with me because it sounds very legal and like it could be an important document from the 1800s, but it’s the sort of phrasing that I need to make sure that I stick to my plan for Me Made May.

I, Harriet Johnson, of Hobbling Handmades, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’17. I endeavour to wear every handmade/ upcycled item of clothing I have in my wardrobe, and on other days to wear something I have bought second hand for the duration of May 2017.

Here’s a brief explanation of what I mean by that:

I don’t have as many hand-sewn items as others, so my plan is to wear EVERY SINGLE THING that I have ever made throughout May, so that I can make sure everything that I’ve made has a nice little outing, and so that I know what changes I want to make for the next time I use the pattern.

I already know that I haven’t made 31 items of clothing, and the amount of times that I’d have to re-wear everything might seem a little excessive. So, on days where I can’t wear something which I have made, I’ll be wearing a garment that I’ve purchased second-hand. Which I think sounds like a fair compromise.

So those are my plans for Me-Made-May! Let me know if you’ll be taking part and, if so, what you’ve pledged. Until next time, have a lovely week!

2 thoughts on “My #MeMadeMay Pledge

  1. Hello 🙂
    I only started learning to sew in March this year, but like you have become pretty obsessed with it. I have pledged to participate but I only have a handful of items so far. My pledge was to wear two items of my own clothing a week & to make at least 4 new items by the end of May. Looking forward to watching your MMMay journey.

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Calling All Artists, Thinkers, Writers, Part 2: The Luxury of Art

So the last time I called, it was to ask the meaning of art. This time I want to talk about its source and sustenance. Would you help me through my ambivalence on this question, follow as I st r u gg le? Thinking over the things my mother worked to procure for me – shelter, food, education – I noticed a glaring contrast to what you can find me busy reaching for. My writing. Mom was preoccupied with making rent and putting rice on the table. I am often lost in my search for the perfect word – whether I’m running around like a headless chicken or slogging through kitchen duty and the lessons with my son. Through it all I never waste a minute, too many things calling for my attention. So it is with moms, and I remember my mother flying everywhere all the time. But it was a different quality of time, a different meaning to it, between Mom’s and mine. Maybe one day I will write a book on the challenges that are my normal. It is on the soft bed of middle-class existence, though, that I do my battles, not the hard ground Mom walked. Would I pursue my writing in her worn-out shoes? I can take nothing for granted. I have mused at times that my world can be pulled from under me any moment. I’ve asked myself if I could keep up A Holistic Journey if I found myself a single parent without means. No. At least not with the time and fierce love I’ve poured into it. If a roof over my son’s head and food in his belly were no given but necessities that I had to clock in 12 hours outside the home for, I’d be foolish to consider my art in any space between the pressure. I would marshal all my resourcefulness and energy to meet my child’s basic needs today and prepare for his tomorrow. Survival trumps all, transforms many desires into nonessentials. Which leads me to conclude that art is a luxury borne out of class. Only now, 20 years after the required reading of Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, am I able to write the paper with understanding.

PurseSo what do you make of Woolf’s famous precept that women need money and a room of their own to write? Unbroken time and space to think and hear herself. Woolf was insisting upon a level playing field in reaction to the socioeconomic disparities between men and women throughout the centuries that had impacted their art. It was men, and therefore male writers, who published readily. Women couldn’t get in the game a hundred years ago, let alone attempt to write through the demands of family life. Woolf wrote, “Intellectual freedom depends upon material things. Poetry depends upon intellectual freedom.” Freedom was one of many things my mother did not have. Financial, material, intellectual. She certainly had no room of her own in a one-bedroom apartment. Though I am not made of money, I still enjoy a feast of options on the food, toys, learning materials I can get my son. I will also fight for the freedom to teach him exactly as I wish if need be. Against this backdrop I exercise my intellect in the luxury to imagine and wonder beyond the walls of my home, and create. I feel secure enough that the walls will not give way. There was no such thing as self-actualization for my mother. No time, no wherewithal. Because my starting point in the discussion was this financial duress stamped into my consciousness, the joy I take in my art feels like hedonism. Now Woolf wasn’t arguing for luxury as she was that money and time be staple provisions for women as they were for men. She resonates with the wild, helpless artist in me, of course. My words are not wine but water, air. I would thirst and gasp if I couldn’t write. Not a day goes by where I don’t begrudge the clock my due, petition the day the time to myself.

But isn’t the classic starving artist single? Or childless (as luck would have it), able to stalk his dream at the encouragement of an understanding, optimistic spouse? Stephen King and the rest who created successfully through the stress of providing for young children seem to disprove the archetype. Yet while King helped with the kids, he did write in his lunch hour at work – outside the home. And though he was often broke, he had a college degree. I grew up watching extremely talented musicians busking in the subways of New York. Street art and brilliance out of the ghettos make it an interesting question, doesn’t it? The circumstances most hospitable to art. Of course it’s ridiculous to say the poor cannot birth what is powerfully beautiful. All over the world we have evidence to the contrary; poets and novelists who wrote in the trenches and drew upon raw experience to bring the power of reality to their art. But don’t time and the sense of stability that money can buy give you not only a room but space in your spirit to conceive things bigger than your life? If art keeps your heart beating, do you need money in the bank to live more fully? Turning our attention to virtual art: anyone can open a blog account and not all bloggers are professing artists. But do those of you who are serious about your art out here consider yourself above the stated lower class where you live? Money is no panacea and some of the richest people are the most unfulfilled. The question is how sustainable art is and whether it can thrive where one’s pocketbook fits only so many coins and groceries and dreams.

159 thoughts on “Calling All Artists, Thinkers, Writers, Part 2: The Luxury of Art

  1. What a great post! As I read through each word, sentence, and paragraph; I felt a true resonance with your words. I may not be a parent, but I understand the struggle to balance money, time, and responsibilities; when pursuing your passions.
    I recently wrote a post called ‘Have a dream? Good. Now dream bigger’ which describes my struggle (I think you’ll enjoy the tone, and subject matter), in this article I discuses how I recently secured a deal with FX.
    Let me know what you think.

My Two Gold Cents in the Holistic Treasury

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EnterJAIment News

Awkward exchanges: Teasers between Prince and his mentor, Brooke Anderson, proved cringe-worthy

The King of Pop’s eldest child 16, Prince lands himself a gig as a correspondent on Entertainment Tonight. It’s day 3 of him on the show and we will finally get to see him sit down and do an interview with the cast of the movie “Oz The Great and Powerful”.

Is he ready? The teenager sat with Sam Raimi, James Franco and Zach Braff

The show has teased and dragged the heck out of Prince’s presence on the show. Sha-mon already! I don’t know how many times they have said “His Father Michael Jackson” when referring to Prince. Is there really anyone in the world who doesn’t know or have enough common sense to know that Prince Michael Jackson is Michael Joseph Jackson’s son. I think MJ would be so proud to see how Prince represents him. He is articulate, well poised, and gives all the credit to Michael raising him right.

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Pets-friendly hotels in Piaseczno

  • guests
We know how much the owners love their four-legged pets. Despite the fact that hotels for animals are very common, a lot of people want to travel together with their pets. See a selection of hotels in Piaseczno, where you can stop with animals. Cheap hotel rates here start from $26 and reach $40, and an average rating is 5.7 points out of 10.
Hotellook team
Rating 8.3
Very good business hotel. Great rooms in excellent location.
from $40
Rating 7.9
from $27
Rating 6.6
from $36
Rating 7.1
from $30
Check all Piaseczno hotels
  • guests
Other Piaseczno reviews


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Russian Santa Figurine – Hour Loop

Russian Santa Figurine

Heartwood Creek

  • $ 3500

Title: Grandfather Frost
Introduction: January 2010
Item Number: 4017650
Material: Stone Resin
Dimensions: 7 in H x 3.25 in W x 3.75 in L
Weight: 0.80 lb

A customary Russian Santa with staff and majestic scene. Part of Santa's Around The World Collection. And a great gift-giving price.

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