The paradox of insular language
2 years ago
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Free? Interesting? Inspiring? What's the catch?
There isn't one. The link below is a free ebook that is filled with one page essays from over 50 awesome authors (like one of my favorites, Daniel Pink). Each author chose a single word to use as the title for the essay. The book was collected by Seth Godin, who has written numerous books as well.
Here's the link to the free ebook. Now I'm off to read more!
Here's the link to the free ebook. Now I'm off to read more!
Friday, November 27, 2009
The LifeChange Photo Essay
I'm back to the blog. I was recently motivated by Heather to re-enter the blogging world. Today's post is inspired by a project that I am working on for the Mish.
One of the joys of working at the Mish is the daily encounters I have with people. Every day brings me something new to wonder about...sometimes in awe, sometimes in frustration, sometimes in joy, and sometimes in sadness. Life at the Mish is real...and the stories are so tangible that I need to find a way to share them--I feel compelled to let them out.
I'm working on a project that will be released in a couple of weeks. The piece is a photo essay about one of the gentlemen in our LifeChange program. This particular project has given me the opportunity to broaden my skill set in a way that is really exciting. I love learning new things and playing around with new systems and programs is even better.
The photos for the essay have been primarily taken by my husband, who has a stunning eye for capturing moments. For the editing process and using a platform to host to project, we're using FotoMagico from Boinx. For audio, I interviewed one of our LifeChange students for about 45 minutes. Then the fun part started..editing the interview, to take it down from 45 minutes to 3. Yeah..remember when I said broadening my skills? This is a totally new experience and has been amazing. I'm using Audacity, which is a free audio editing program. Editing a "non visual" has been an experience that stretched me in a way that is similar to really good, long run works me out. The process requires endurance, patience, and a mind that can freeflow and stay focus intermittently. There's the bit of visual as you look at the sound clips, but then you are in an audible world that comes together in your head as you pull pieces out as bring them back together.
I'm loving this project, and once we work through this first one I'll post it here and on the Mish's website. It will be a true pleasure to bring people into the lives, minds, and hearts of the men in our program through this venue.
One of the joys of working at the Mish is the daily encounters I have with people. Every day brings me something new to wonder about...sometimes in awe, sometimes in frustration, sometimes in joy, and sometimes in sadness. Life at the Mish is real...and the stories are so tangible that I need to find a way to share them--I feel compelled to let them out.
I'm working on a project that will be released in a couple of weeks. The piece is a photo essay about one of the gentlemen in our LifeChange program. This particular project has given me the opportunity to broaden my skill set in a way that is really exciting. I love learning new things and playing around with new systems and programs is even better.
The photos for the essay have been primarily taken by my husband, who has a stunning eye for capturing moments. For the editing process and using a platform to host to project, we're using FotoMagico from Boinx. For audio, I interviewed one of our LifeChange students for about 45 minutes. Then the fun part started..editing the interview, to take it down from 45 minutes to 3. Yeah..remember when I said broadening my skills? This is a totally new experience and has been amazing. I'm using Audacity, which is a free audio editing program. Editing a "non visual" has been an experience that stretched me in a way that is similar to really good, long run works me out. The process requires endurance, patience, and a mind that can freeflow and stay focus intermittently. There's the bit of visual as you look at the sound clips, but then you are in an audible world that comes together in your head as you pull pieces out as bring them back together.
I'm loving this project, and once we work through this first one I'll post it here and on the Mish's website. It will be a true pleasure to bring people into the lives, minds, and hearts of the men in our program through this venue.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Getting to the core...
Have you ever had one of those moments when you realize you have overlooked the obvious for a very...long....time...? Of course--we all have. We call them epiphanies, getting hit on the head with a brick, a light bulb moment, or one of my favorite catch phrases of the new millennium, "the ah-ha" moment.
Yesterday, I went to yoga, but it wasn't just an ordinary class. I arrived in time for a session that has been canceled (oops), and the instructor was kind enough to continue anyway. I'm not sure if 75 minutes of personalized yoga instruction is a good thing if you are the type of person who prefers to blend in with the other wobbling trees and eagles, or who feels like her bird of paradise might look more like a chicken skewering itself, but I survived. In fact, I did more than just will my way through the undivided attention of my masochistic instructor. I had (wait for it)....an epiphany moment.
As a bit of background, I am a project manager who has opted out of work for a while so I can finish my research on my thesis. For a constant workaholic, this has been a challenge. I'm finding myself to be balancing a love/hate relationship with freedom, and at the same time I'm being wonderfully distracted by involving myself in activities that one-by-one make a difference with positive social and environmental changes.
In this 1:1 yoga moment, we spent time working on our core strength, which is why today, I am leaning against a stack of five pillows to hold me up as I write. After the floor work, we returned to standing poses to work on balance. I have always concentrated on stabilizing my teetering leg while trying to lift the other, but yesterday I was instructed to think about my core..yes, the muscles that were still quivering from the earlier attention I had given them. "P'shaw," I thought, but I gave it a try, mainly because there was no way to escape the eagle eye of my nemesis-I-mean-personal-instructor. Ignoring my shaking leg, I concentrated on drawing in my stomach muscles while still breathing. While I focused on my core, I found my balance stabilized and my other leg floated into the air with the grace of a ballerina (actually, it lifted off the ground and I didn't fall over).
And then it hit..the proverbial brick on the head. How many things do we make more complicated because we lose touch with the core reasons for why we are doing them? Relationships, exercise, even work. Small things poke at us and nag us and cause our focus to shift away from what is actually holding us there.
What type of projects are you involved with that are helping our social or environmental causes? How many are going smoothly because everyone "gets it" and the focus is still on the original scope, or core? How many are floundering, struggling to stay upright because the energy is being channeled to what seems to be the stability factor but is really just a part of the process?
It's easy to be distracted by what draws our attention the most..squeaky wheel syndrome, etc. What my unassuming and extremely focused yoga instructor reminded me yesterday was that the goal is centered on the core. Teetering balance can be synonymous with creeping scope, and once the attention has shifted away from the core, the success of the overall undertaking is on shaky ground. Root yourself on the core, and you'll stand strong.
Yesterday, I went to yoga, but it wasn't just an ordinary class. I arrived in time for a session that has been canceled (oops), and the instructor was kind enough to continue anyway. I'm not sure if 75 minutes of personalized yoga instruction is a good thing if you are the type of person who prefers to blend in with the other wobbling trees and eagles, or who feels like her bird of paradise might look more like a chicken skewering itself, but I survived. In fact, I did more than just will my way through the undivided attention of my masochistic instructor. I had (wait for it)....an epiphany moment.
As a bit of background, I am a project manager who has opted out of work for a while so I can finish my research on my thesis. For a constant workaholic, this has been a challenge. I'm finding myself to be balancing a love/hate relationship with freedom, and at the same time I'm being wonderfully distracted by involving myself in activities that one-by-one make a difference with positive social and environmental changes.
In this 1:1 yoga moment, we spent time working on our core strength, which is why today, I am leaning against a stack of five pillows to hold me up as I write. After the floor work, we returned to standing poses to work on balance. I have always concentrated on stabilizing my teetering leg while trying to lift the other, but yesterday I was instructed to think about my core..yes, the muscles that were still quivering from the earlier attention I had given them. "P'shaw," I thought, but I gave it a try, mainly because there was no way to escape the eagle eye of my nemesis-I-mean-personal-instructor. Ignoring my shaking leg, I concentrated on drawing in my stomach muscles while still breathing. While I focused on my core, I found my balance stabilized and my other leg floated into the air with the grace of a ballerina (actually, it lifted off the ground and I didn't fall over).
And then it hit..the proverbial brick on the head. How many things do we make more complicated because we lose touch with the core reasons for why we are doing them? Relationships, exercise, even work. Small things poke at us and nag us and cause our focus to shift away from what is actually holding us there.
What type of projects are you involved with that are helping our social or environmental causes? How many are going smoothly because everyone "gets it" and the focus is still on the original scope, or core? How many are floundering, struggling to stay upright because the energy is being channeled to what seems to be the stability factor but is really just a part of the process?
It's easy to be distracted by what draws our attention the most..squeaky wheel syndrome, etc. What my unassuming and extremely focused yoga instructor reminded me yesterday was that the goal is centered on the core. Teetering balance can be synonymous with creeping scope, and once the attention has shifted away from the core, the success of the overall undertaking is on shaky ground. Root yourself on the core, and you'll stand strong.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Mind Mapping
I have to admit that I enjoy the process of making things make sense. You know, when you have a smattering of random thoughts and you know that there is logic and sequence and maybe even something profound in there...just trying to weed its way through the other clutter to get out. Ever have that feeling?
I also love good tools that are free and will promote them to my heart's content. This one is a simple mind mapping tool with a cool add-on. Check it out: www.mindmeister.com gives you the basics..a web-based mind map that has uncomplicated ways to add branches and nodes.
Two bonuses? Good exporting features. One of my fav's is the outline export, so I can take my scattered thoughts-->outline-->research paper. The other fav is the easy mobile phone update. I use it on the iPhone, but it's not an app. It's a called a geistesblitz (www.mindmeister.com/services/tools) and allows you to add an idea to a quick link on the phone and it instantly is placed on your mind map. No more trying to hold the thoughts and place them later.
Here's a copy of a mind map in action...planning for a research project that had lots of arms and legs that I needed to organize.
And the tool to get ideas from the phone to the web-based map:
I also love good tools that are free and will promote them to my heart's content. This one is a simple mind mapping tool with a cool add-on. Check it out: www.mindmeister.com gives you the basics..a web-based mind map that has uncomplicated ways to add branches and nodes.
Two bonuses? Good exporting features. One of my fav's is the outline export, so I can take my scattered thoughts-->outline-->research paper. The other fav is the easy mobile phone update. I use it on the iPhone, but it's not an app. It's a called a geistesblitz (www.mindmeister.com/services/tools) and allows you to add an idea to a quick link on the phone and it instantly is placed on your mind map. No more trying to hold the thoughts and place them later.
Here's a copy of a mind map in action...planning for a research project that had lots of arms and legs that I needed to organize.
And the tool to get ideas from the phone to the web-based map:
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