I have read a string of really good books over the past four months, all having that special beckoning quality that makes you look forward to finding the time to sit down and read.  There’s nothing better than that.  So I thought I’d share these recommendations, in case you’re looking for that next great book.

The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant.  This book has been out for years, but I just got around to reading it.  It’s a wonderful story about the Story of Dinah, daughter of Jacob and sister of Joseph.  The story is about the tribe of Jacob and the bonds of womenhood and the importance of the Red Tent – the womanly place where rites of passage are celebrated.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows.  A wonderful book whose stories unfold through a series of letters written during WWII and the German occupation of Guernsey.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  A debut novel, the author weave a story set in Mississippi about the relationship between white women and the black women who take care of their home and raise their children.  This book is insightful and riveting.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.  Set in Barcelona, this story is about a young man on a quest to find other books by an author he has discovered – and finds all books have been destroyed.  While it seems like an unassuming and maybe even mundane plot line, the story is rich with wonderful writing, character development and true intrigue.

Today I opened the pages of  The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer, a memoir about a fatherless boy growing up in Manhasset, New York and the huge presence the patrons of a local bar have on his life.  I will write more about this one once I finish, but it’s the type of book you pick up and are pulled in to from the start.

Please share any good books you’ve read lately, or even some of your all time favorites!

True confession: I could not bear to watch or read any of the media coverage of last week’s healthcare summit. The pre-meeting posturing and pandering left me anxious and a tad nauseous. I was worried that the actual event would hurl me into a black abyss of disillusionment (or cause me to hurl, one or the other). Perhaps I’m wearing both my political stripes AND my naivete on my sleeves when I say – If reasonable and even-tempered Obama can’t get the players to work together, who can?!?!?!

Fortunately, a recent article from The Washington Post pierced my despair, like the comforting whiff of freshly brewed coffee. Dan Zak’s Coffee Party Activists Say Their Civic Brew’s A Tastier Choice than Tea Party’s showcases the new Coffee Party movement. The mission of The Coffee Party USA is to:

The Coffee Party Movement gives voice to Americans who want to see cooperation in government. We recognize that the federal government is not the enemy of the people, but the expression of our collective will, and that we must participate in the democratic process in order to address the challenges that we face as Americans. As voters and grassroots volunteers, we will support leaders who work toward positive solutions, and hold accountable those who obstruct them.

Now, THIS is a political sentiment I can embrace (and hang on to tightly – for dear life). It’s a welcome alternative for a Wise Woman who enjoys chatting over coffee and is suspicious of anyone swinging around tea bags in protest.

The fledgling movement is gaining traction through virtual discussions and live meetings in various communities. It’s all a bit confusing and messy, yet invigorating. I’m not sure how much I want to jump into the fray (or even can in my Facebook-less life). But even the notion that this movement exists is enough to wake me out of my cynical slumber. Similarly-minded people are standing up to demand that public officials work toward solutions, not throw up politically-motivated roadblocks. How great is that?

Pour yourself a cup of coffee, and let’s talk about it.

Next Tuesday, November 3rd, HBO premieres a movie called By the People: The Election of Barack Obama. Produced by noted actor Ed Norton, the film makers Amy Rice and Alicia Sams started filming the documentary in 2007 a full year before Barack Obama announced his candidacy for President.  The filmmakers were inspired by his oratory skills and charismatic nature witnessed by the nation when he first came on the national scene during the 2004 Democratic Convention.  It didn’t start out about the making of a President, but just a charismatic Freshman Senator from Illinois.  These filmmakers had unprecedented access to Obama and his family over a two year period – filming the triumphs, the disappointments, challenges and controversies.

What is also fascinating is the inside look at his campaign team, and the way they were able to galvanize the support of millions and turn supporters into new political activists.   Ed Norton states: “I think people will look back on this campaign as one that was conducted with a real understanding of communication and organizing tools that were singular to that moment. It was an historic new read on how you could do an end run around conventional political methodology and strategies.”

From what I’ve read and heard, it looks like a very compelling viewing opportunity.  There’s just one problem:  I don’t have HBO.  Maybe it’s time to give in.  I know that would make the kids happy!

Today, like most Tuesdays and Thursdays, my alarm goes off at 5:15 am. As I roll over to shut off the radio, my brain clicks into gear, and I remember that it’s my day to blog.

I’m an early-bird and writing my post first thing in the morning ensures that 1) it gets done, 2) I actually have some fresh brain power/energy to devote to it, and 3) I have a finite amount of time I can spend writing and editing (usually an hour) before I get ready for work; otherwise, I would obsess about word choice and grammar and fritter hours away on one single post.

I spend the next 10 minutes in bed intermittently stretching and mentally sketching out the post in my head. Usually, I’ll have gone to bed with a kernel of an idea, some news story that caught my attention in the preceding days or a personal experience to share. In that early morning planning/stretching time, I’ll come up with a few lines of text, maybe even the opening. When I roll out of bed and sit in front of my computer, the blog post practically writes itself.

This morning, I have a whole bunch of idea kernels, but nothing’s popped.

Shall I write about the fact that it’s already August, and I have yet to come up with my annual Summer of Fun list; my failure to proactively plan fun activities will no doubt lead to my lamenting, “Where did the summer go?” when September rolls around.

How about the car salesman from India whose interesting life story we got to know over the past two weekends while car shopping. I could include reflections about how some people so easily reach out and connect with perfect strangers, while I’m the type who sees time with strangers (on airplanes, waiting in lines) as an opportunity to retreat and spend quality time with myself.

Or, about The Washington Post reporter Ian Shapira who wrote about his initial giddiness when people were buzzing about his story after it was featured on the popular blog Gawker. Until Shapira realized that his hours and hours of investigative reporting had been essentially ripped off by a blogger who spent 30 minutes lifting and repackaging the text of the original article (hmmm … could lead to an interesting riff on blog ethics …).

Or, the driving contract we drafted over the weekend for our new teen driver. Or, how healthcare legislation is stalling (kudos to Cindy H. for keeping abreast of this debate in her blog).

You know, while I could write a blog post about any of these topics, no one really excites me this morning. I resist the temptation to look at the clock and grow anxious about the passing time. I let my mind go blank, hoping that the Goddess of Blogs will inspire me.

My eyes open: I know – I’ll write about the process of wrting a blog. OK, quick – what’s the title going to be? The Making Of A Blog Post. Short, sweet, and answers the questions people periodically ask, “How do you come up with your ideas?” and “When do you find time to write?”

I look at the neon numbers by my bedside. It’s 5:35 am. Time to roll out of bed and get cracking!

I’ve been following the events of Mr. Henry Louis Gates, prominent Harvard scholar and police officer James Crowley in Cambridge with some interest.  While I know all of you must be aware of this story – let me quickly recount just in case you missed it.

Chapter 1:  The case of the mistaken Burglar

Mr. Henry Gates was returning home late one night, after a flight from China, and couldn’t get into his house.  He and his driver were  therefore trying to pry the door open. A neighbor called the police, thinking the house was being burglarized.  Only those who were present on that doorstep know what happened next, but it culminated in the arrest of Gates, and a national news story purporting racial profiling.

Chapter 2:  A Stupid Act

The next thing I hear is that Obama is getting involved.  I must say he didn’t initiate his own involvement, but was drawn in by a question of a reporter.  Unfortunately, Obama responded quite “stupidly” – citing the Cambridge police department of “behaving stupidly.”  Another firestorm ensued, and Obama was firmly involved.

Chapter 3:  Beer Summit at the White House

By the time I became aware of this chapter my first reaction was – “why in the world is Obama getting so involved in this case?”  What should have been a relatively obscure byline in the Boston Globe has now transgressed to a tour of the White House complete with your favorite mug of beer?  (By the way, Officer Crowley drank Blue Moon, Gates had Sam Adams Lite, and Obama drank Bud – very important details, I know).

My next thought was that this was maybe not such a bad thing.  My concluding thought was that it was a powerful way to set an example, which dramatizes the power of conversation. We all do stupid things, we all say stupid things – and the important thing is to talk through the issues with those that have the opposing view – not to shut them down and ignore them, not to harbor ill will against them, and not to let the situation escalate to violence.

While Obama has more than a full plate of complicated issues to deal with, this simple gesture, may be worth three points.  As he said, “What brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart.”

The city that I live in (Stamford, CT) has already lost one professional theater this year. Another theater, the Stamford Performing Arts Center, declared bankruptcy a few months ago.  They have two theaters – the nicer of the two hosts a line-up of Broadway musical and theater. Well it is was with a mixture of interest, amusement and sadness that I read in my local paper yesterday that NBC Studios is in final negotiations to convert the theater to a TV studio, which will be the new home of the Jerry Springer, Maury Povitch and the Steve Wilcos Shows.

The good news?  This brings about 200 new jobs to the city.  (I’m sure many of those jobs are for carpenters, as they’ll need to repair all the broken chairs that get thrown across the stage). And I guess Jerry and his likes have proven that they offer sustainable entertainment (I guess that means recession-proof), kind of like nice greasy, cheap french fries.  I have to admit, it might be fun to take in a Jerry Springer Show – girl’s night out maybe? (Although I’m sure once will be enough).  But I am sad, because another excellent theater is exiting the market.  

So now, we’ve lost our two professional theaters.  Luckily we still have a community theater – and while offering enjoyable productions – I will certainly miss the caliber of theater that once existed in our city.  

Have there been any significant changes to the landscape of your town since this recession started?  I think of how much this city has thrived and developed over the past few years, and just hope that it can stand guard against this recession, without losing too much else.  

And, damn, why couldn’t it have at least been the Ellen Show?

I end the week with a shout out to all of you – and a request for you to think about your own stories and/or inspirations you may want to share with us.  We would love to have more guest bloggers writing for us – and as you can tell from the content on Coffee Chat with 1000 Wise Women, just about anything goes.  The important thing is for us to share our ideas, perspectives, our how tos and personal experiences.  We all benefit greatly from sharing our stories, and I believe the community that we are trying to create here will become more powerful and connected if there are more voices represented.

So this weekend will probably be full of pulling out cookbooks, menu planning and grocery shopping for Thanksgiving.  As you’re running around on errands, and stirring the gravy on the stove next week, think of what you can share, and reach out to us either via a comment or email.

Elaine and I would be happy to write your story, or be happy to accept your own written story to post.  Have a special hobby?  Share it!  Have a special dream?  Share it!  Worked out a solution to managing the stress that faces us each day? Share it! Mastered the art of parenting?  Share it!  There are so many things to share.

We would love to hear from you.  Have a great weekend.

Have you ever played Bull Sh*t Bingo during a work meeting? You and a few trusted colleagues each have a game card filled with eye-rolling jargon like “synergy” or “leverage.” Every time someone at the meeting utters one of the B.S. words, you mark it off until the first one to complete a row horizontally, vertically or diagonally wins. (The winner is supposed to stand up and shout “B.S.”, but I have yet to see that happen.)

Fans of B.S. Bingo may want to consult the latest top-10 list for inspiration: The Top 10 Most Irritating Phrases. The phrases most likely to set your teeth on edge include …

1 – At the end of the day

2 – Fairly unique

3 – I personally

4 – At this moment in time

5 – With all due respect

6 – Absolutely

7 – It’s a nightmare

8 – Shouldn’t of

9 – 24/7

10 – It’s not rocket science

Since I have been known to commit a few of these verbal offenses, I will let someone else cast the first stone. Instead, I grimace when people constantly raise their voice at the end of a sentence, causing each declaration to sound like a question. It’s a teeny bopper manner of speaking reminiscent of the Valley Girl era, but is SO annoying when coming out of the mouths of people who should know better.

What are your verbal pet peeves?

I was recently thinking that it was just one year ago that Elaine and I hatched the Coffee Chat with 1000 Wise Women idea.  We both had decided to attend the More Magazine “Reinvention Convention” – a full day of key note speakers to panels of women speaking across various topics – from finances, to changing course mid career, to starting your own business, to health care, etc. It was a fun and inspiring day – just nice to have a time out from our normal routines to meet new women and hear their stories.  

It struck us that when women come together and share their stories, most often we leave those conversations with the wheels in our brain turning a little bit faster.  So there in hatched our idea.  The original premise, which hopefully we’ll still achieve, was to write a book – a compilation of stories and wisdom by hundreds of wise women.  But to jump start us on our path, we decided – why not start a blog…and see what happens.

I remember last year at this time, I couldn’t wrap my mind around why anyone would blog surf and read a blog, let alone write one.  But here we are, and I would say our journey so far has been quite rewarding, and we appreciate all the support we’ve received along the way.  And for someone who has had publishing aspirations my whole life, it is rewarding for me in my own small way to feel like I’m “publishing” something every week.

So more on the world of blogging.  This blog world never ceases to amaze me – the literally hundreds of thousands of blogs that are being passionately written today, across a wide range of themes, with all sorts of different missions.  There are some clearly being written as a way to document one’s life, others are angling with the hope of being discovered and hitting it big.  Take Living Oprah, for example.  A Chicago yogo instuctor decided that she would watch Oprah for a year, and do exactly what Oprah tells her.  She reads the books she recommends, she buys the clothes that Oprah says to buy, she adopted a cat from the shelter…I think so far she’s $3,000 in the hole since watching Oprah.  But yet, it’s hard not to argue that she has found an amusing niche for herself – and she got an appearance on the Today Show for it last week (and yes, did confirm that Matt Lauer was really nice.).

Another site I came across was palinaspresident.us.  This is an only mildly amusing representation of Palin sitting in the Oval office.  You need to scan the mouse over the picture to make things happen.  What gets me more than anything is that someone took the time to create this, and updates it daily until the election.  The creativity that this blog world has unleashed is really utterly amazing.

This blogging world is certainly an easy one to get lost in…exploring so many points of views and personal styles – a quick stop on the computer can quickly turn into 2 hours.  But all in all – blogging is a wonderfully easy way to give many frustrated writers a forum to be expressive, to build a community, and explore new creative frontiers – all in a relatively fun, forgiving environment. 

Last Friday was one of those days that I just kept on feeling like I was getting punched in the stomach – a pure innocent victim of price gouging. I started off the morning filling the car up at $4.19 a gallon, and $75 later, I was on my not so merry but quite contrary way – Argh! I ran into the grocery store in search of Kerrygold Irish butter and cheese only (dont’ ask) and $130 later, I was loading groceries in the car. One of the items I bought was an 18-pack of Horizon chocolate milk packs. It was on special, although no Read the rest of this entry »