Category: Community

Skating Lake Michigan (Goofy Foot II)

On By SarahIn Community, Fun & EntertainmentLeave a comment

It has taken me a while to locate my wrist guards, so in the three weeks that G and I have been in Chicago, despite all of the beautiful weather, I haven’t been able to get out and skateboard in Lincoln Park along Lake Michigan, which is only a mere three blocks from our apartment.

Yesterday, with determination, I finally found my wrist guards. The weather is just too beautiful now, and I had to get out there because I know it won’t last long. My last skateboard lesson from Christopher was over a month ago, and if I was going to keep my nerve, I had to go.

So I walked down to the Lake. On my way I saw gaggles of young men walking away from the park, skateboards in hand, and I felt intimidated. I was on the opposite side of the street, and I was thankful because if I had passed them they no doubt would see my board, and I’m sure they’d wonder to themselves what this approaching-middle-aged lady was doing with this way cool longboard. I know, I know, I’m not really middle aged yet (though I’m getting there), but compared to these kids, I feel that way.

Anyway, as I got closer to the park I could here the unmistakable sound of wheels on pavement, the whir of rushing wheels and the clack of boards on concrete and metal as skaters practice their fancy moves, turns, pikes, and twists. I don’t know the language, but I know that sound. I read the sign and saw the chain link fence, “Wilson Skate Park.”

My board is a long board meant for cruising, not a shorter trick board. I have no desire to skate with these guys, as much as I admire them. I wanted to skate the path and enjoy the sunshine and the wind on my face. But I wanted to go and watch, but again I felt intimidated. I didn’t want to call attention to myself with my big, beautiful skateboard. I knew that some of the kids might be interested because Christopher’s boards always draw interest, and I felt shy to talk to anyone, like a poser who didn’t belong there. I am old enough to be some of these kids’ mother, after all. Seriously.

So I kept my distance, and took my board to the path.

I’m just starting out, never having done this in my life before six weeks ago. There weren’t too many joggers and bikers out, so I didn’t feel the pressure of traffic coming up behind me. I was really stiff to start, trying to learn to keep my balance and trust myself, trying to remember in my body and in my mind Christopher’s lessons. Stay loose, keep low, bend your knees, toes down to go left, toes up to go right, don’t bail.

With time I gained confidence and went faster and faster, but at first even a slow jogger passed me as I tried to get over my fear of speed and gain more coordination in my kicking. I was out there for about an hour, and the more confidence I gained, the more fun I was having. Christopher would be proud.

It was a blast. I will go back and watch the skaters another time, perhaps after a few more times out there on my own.

My Mary Tyler Moore Moment

On By SarahIn Community, Fun & EntertainmentLeave a comment

I live in Chicago.

G and I have to tell each other this at least once a day to keep our feet on the ground.

It’s pretty cool. This is my favorite city, and I can hardly believe that I’m here. It’s totally dorky, and I don’t feel at all ashamed or self conscious about it. Okay, maybe I do a little, but mostly I’m just trying to let myself take it all in, look around in wonder at this absolutely wonderful place.

I love taking the crowded train downtown to work each day. On my way to my office from the El, I pass the legendary Jazz Record Mart, and my office is on the Magnificent Mile.

When I crossed the plaza of my building after my first day of work, this is what I saw:

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Though I really wanted to, I refrained from throwing my hat (and I did have a hat because it is November, and there is real-fall-going-on-winter weather here) in the air the way Mary Tyler Moore did at the end of the show’s opening credits. But I did it on the inside.

I live in Chicago. It’s awesome.

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Chicago Dreaming

On By SarahIn Community, Friends & Family2 Comments

Well, it is happening. I’ve been offered a dream job in my favorite city. G and I are picking up and leaving the great state of California and moving to Chicago. Both of us have lived here for just about our entire adult lives, so this is going to be an enormous change.

But I am a Midwestern girl, and I know I’m going to love it there. G knows that it is a great town to visit, but she is stepping out on faith that I am leading both of us to a good place.

She can trust me. Chicago is AWESOME!

Things are falling into place as if this was all meant to be. I keep waiting for something to go wrong, for there to be some major glitch that would make everything just totally suck. It’s a very stressful time, don’t get me wrong. But all of the little details are so far coming off without a hitch (knock on wood…thunk).

Perhaps it has a lot to do with our search for housing. We went to Chicago and managed to find a place to live in one weekend. In the Bay Area we’re used to dealing with lots of high-priced, tiny, crumby apartments, and even though we knew Chicago is a totally different housing market, we just couldn’t let go of Bay Area expectations.

We looked at our fair share of crumby apartments, to be sure. In one place I would guess that the bath tub hadn’t been cleaned the entire time that the three male roommates had occupied the apartment. And it wasn’t just to boys who were slobs, if you think I’m being sexist. In another apartment shared by three young women, there was half-eaten food on the floor and dirty clothes strewn everywhere. What the deal with landlords in Chicago showing apartments that are not only occupied (which is actually understandable to a degree), but are occupied by slobs who are truly disgusting? I walked out of some of these places feeling like I needed to take a bath. But I digress.

We found the most beautiful apartment we could imagine (photos to come). When we walked into the place our jaws hit the gorgeous hardwood floors. We gaped at the twelve-foot ceilings, the spacious living areas, the original built-in cabinetry with leaded glass, and we mouthed to each other “Oh my God!” I whispered to G “This is the one!” We couldn’t believe it. We were sure that something had to be wrong. We couldn’t possibly afford the rent here, or there must be something wrong with the neighborhood. We will be living in the Uptown neighborhood on the north side of Chicago, which is a bit rough, but nothing that we’re not used to.

Now we’re fantasizing about growing tomatoes and herbs on our front patio, grilling in the back, setting up a yoga and meditation room, entertaining friends at many fabulous dinner parties, and simply occupying opposite sides of the apartment! We’re so used to living in small quarters and needing to occupy the same room! This will be real freedom.

Make no mistake, we are going to miss the Bay Area a lot. Probably immediately as winter sets in there. We’ll miss our friends, no doubt, we’ll miss the fantastic weather, the farmers market down the street, the bakery, the fantastic dining, our church. I have adopted Oakland as my home. I will most certainly be homesick for some time.

But when I first moved here fifteen years ago, I was homesick for Chicago. So here I go back home again.

Why I Love Ma.gnolia

On By SarahIn Community, Friends & Family, Fun & Entertainment, Internet3 Comments

I have become a social networking fool. You can find me at any one of many social networking sites, most of which I list in the side bar of my blog. By far, Ma.gnolia is my favorite.

Ma.gnolia was founded by my friend and fellow Earlhamite, Larry Halff. Put simply, Ma.gnolia is a tool where you can save and share bookmarks. This is useful for many reasons. First, you can access your favorite sites from any computer. You can also create your own tags, essentially categorizing, and organizing your bookmarks in a way that feels natural to you.

The beauty of it is that you can share your sites with others who share your interests, and discover new sites in the same way. This is where the social part comes in. You can create or join groups with shared interests (like knitting or yoga). You can also have contacts with other Ma.gnolia members, which also facilitates sharing sites. The three latest links that your contacts and groups have saved appear on your home page. There’s also little side bar menus which show you the most recent links that random people have saved. You can also see the “Hot Groups” which shows you groups that are particularly active. It is so satisfying to see my links and my groups appear in those side bar menus. It makes me feel so popular.

One really nice feature is that you can thank people for their links. I have made a few contacts that way, thanking or being thanked. I was thrilled the day that Henry thanked me for my Out in Scripture link. It was just such a nice thing to be thanked for sharing a link that I like. I added him as a contact after I saw his link to the Music Row Democrats, a website for promoting country musicians with progressive politics. Since then, I have been able to keep tabs on the links that Henry is sharing, which is really cool because he is discovering stuff that I wouldn’t necessarily come across on my own.

I have waded into the waters of social networking, blogging, and the like this past year, tentatively exploring the possibilities. Information professional and shy person that I am, this is a perfect way for me to gently put feelers out there and see what building on-line community is all about. I plan to do more on a professional level in the coming months, but I’m still feeling a little be timid about it. The personal and the professional really collide here, and I have been more comfortable having a clear separation between my two worlds.

However, as I go further down the road into management in my career, I really appreciate it when people bring their whole selves into the work place. It’s how creativity can really be applied to help build a better mouse trap, if you will. So, to lead by example, I will begin to share more of what I am setting up professionally with my colleagues, starting with two groups that I have created on Ma.gnolia, Development Research and Fundraising and Philanthropy.

Sharing these Ma.gnolia groups more widely with my professional colleagues will give folks access to my personal web presence. They’ll be able to check out my Ma.gnolia profile, see what groups I’m interested in, and check out the link to my blog, which will lead them to my presence on Pandora, MySpace, or Cork’d, which will tell you what I think about the wine I am drinking (though I have yet to use this one much, I just think it’s really cool).

Ultimately, This is what I want, because this is bringing social networking to full fruition, which I feel I have yet to do. I’m nervous about it, but Ma.gnolia is a web tool that I think my fellow information professionals will get really excited about.

And that’s what social networking is all about, right?

Small World, Hard Lessons

On By SarahIn Community, Opinion, PoliticsLeave a comment

Gillian started a really cool new job this year, and her office is in down town Oakland. She told me over the last couple of months about this really cool guy that she has run into in the elevator. They struck up conversations a couple of times. She told me he was the editor of a local paper for the black community in Oakland, that it was a new job for him that he was really excited about. She told me that he was really nice, and she was hoping to get to know him a little.

That man was Chauncey Bailey.

Gillian and I were in Chicago when he was killed, waiting for a plane to fly home to Oakland. We were supposed to be on a flight the night before, but we were bumped. Gillian was supposed to be on her way to work that day, and it just happened that we were instead at Midway in Chicago. She very easily could have been a witness to the brutal assassination.

His death hits home for many reasons. One, it happened blocks from my home. Two, while people are killed every day it seems on the streets of Oakland and other cities, this more high-profile murder touches the lives of many people raising the visibility of the problem of violence in our communities.

Yes, there are big problems like poverty and education and drugs that lead to violence that need to be addressed to curb the problem. A long-term approach is what is needed to turn the ship around. Meanwhile, however, people are taking matters into their own hands in demanding that their neighbors and family members take some responsibility to make changes now.

I am saddened by the death of Chauncey Bailey. I wish that Gillian and I could have gotten to know this man. I wish that he could have lived to continue his good works in this community that so desperately needs men like him. Now we can only hope to learn from his legacy as a journalist and activist and the tragedy of his senseless death. The hardest lesson, perhaps, is that we are responsible for helping to make the change that we want to see in the world.