haiKupiec

I’ve had my fill of newspaper stories filled with unbearable sadness and unanswerable questions. Bearing witness is sometimes the only gift that we have to give our fellow (wo)man so we keep going, I guess.

Today’s mental jukebox is playing David Wilcox’s Show the Way (again) and looking for a little inner peace…

“It is…
Love who makes the mortar
And it’s love who stacked these stones
And it’s love who made the stage here
Although it looks like we’re alone
In this scene set in shadows
Like the night is here to stay
There is evil cast around us
But it’s love that wrote the play…
For in this darkness love can show the way”

 

You may have hear about Denver’s SAME Cafe in the LA Times–a place where people pay what they can and work if they can’t pay. A place where people who are hungry aren’t set apart according to their ability to pay, where good food is good food. Hunger in a land of plenty is an unbelievable disgrace. Check out SAME and give if you can. If you would like other ways to get involved with ending hunger, search for a local food bank or consider giving to America’s Second Harvest.

On April 24, I attended the Banff Mountain Film Festival: 10 films in all in a sold out crow of 1400. Whew! Not my typical outing so it will stand out for a long time to come. The Reno stop was sponsored by The Nevada Land Conservancy. The Nevada Land Conservancy is a non-profit land trust working to preserve open space.  

I just finished You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader by Mark Sanborn and the The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t by Bob Sutton. Watch a video with the author. Both are quick reads and well worth the time.

What I’m reading today: A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder by Eric Abrahamson and David Freedman. It’s an unapologetic debunking of the myth that greater productivity is only achieved through great organization. I have to admit that I am receptive to this idea, being someone who lets papers pile up. However, I have spent a great deal of my professional life buying planners and many other organizational tools and buying into a tightly organized scheme for a productive work life. What I’ve learned: I can be highly productive even while the paper piles up around me. What I have learned to appreciate about myself: I have the ability to plan around the big picture.

I paid a visit to the “Phil” yesterday, the Reno Philharmonic. On the program:

• Duke Ellington: Suite from The River
• George Friderick Handel Concerto for Harp, featuring Jeremy Keppelmann, Harp
• Hector Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique

I loved the first piece especially. And I am a sucker for the harp. Jeremy Keppelmann is 14! He was featured in the local paper a couple of days ago. He had incredible stage presence.

I have to admit that my kind of orchestral music is more in the Laurie Anderson or Philip Glass arenas but this outing might just have created a new Duke Ellington fan.

I loved watching all of the musicians and the silent communication between different players and the players and the conductor.