What did you do on your birthday? I mean your *real* birthday; the day you were born. I imagine you popped out crying, then fell asleep, and suckled all the rest of the week.
Dogs are great but that doesn’t mean everyone should have one, especially young people whose lives are in flux.
That is why, when son Jack came home from a dog walk in the woods with friends and announced he was thinking of adopting a dog he just met, I was vehemently opposed.
As the shipping boxes began to pile up by the recycle bin, so, too, did my guilt. How many trees had to die in the fulfillment of my consumerism? Shipping a single item per box with all its packing waste is not exactly earth friendly, but I rationalized that I was saving on fuel and reducing air pollution. It seems that, in all of life, there is a trade-off.
My current Netflix binge-watch, with some never-seen-before footage, is Greatest Events of WWII. While I watched this mini-series, I thought of my dad; a young man who fought in this war and was shot down and lived 2 years in Stalag Luft III, a German prison camp.
My neighborhood is full of grown children that are home from college and elsewhere, sheltering in place and strolling in the sunshine with their parents. Who would have thought that in January, when I was renovating the carriage house in my backyard, that it would soon be occupied by son Jack, forced to move home from college because of a world-wide pandemic?
Good news has happened again for our non-profit, Friends Of Dreamland (FOD). Shortly after the coronavirus outbreak, while we were all still trying to get our footing and wondering what was going to happen to our world and our jobs, Friends of Dreamland got some great news.
A couple of things: I have never used the word “devoid” so much in my life. The streets are devoid of cars, the buses are devoid of passengers, and churches devoid of parishioners. And another thing: I have not cooked this much since the kids started graduating from high school in 2006.
This week on my radio show, Up In Your Business, the returning guest from Arkansas’s Small Business Administration, State Director Edward Haddock, went over the new programs currently rolling out for small businesses. Having applied for both the Economic Injury Disaster Loan and the Paycheck Protection Program Grant, I felt it was important for me to share my experience with my listeners and demystify the process for my business peers. Here is what I learned:
To bring a little levity to the workplace, everyone was given a yard stick to play with and carry around as a reminder to stay 6 feet apart. It’s been really fun! The yardsticks have become swords, light sabers, microphones, walking sticks and more. But social-distancing and remembering to stay 6 feet apart after-hours is not as easy.
The 2008 recession was not that long ago. Drawing from the experiences learned, we know small businesses were slow to recover, but not as slow as the unemployment rate (which rose to 10%) … Having been laid off from jobs in my youth, I remember the head game it plays on you.
Though it was only last week, it seems like a lifetime ago that Mayor Frank Scott’s secretary called and, most apologetically, canceled the mayor’s guest appearance on Wednesday’s live broadcast of Up In Your Business, saying a COVID-19 case had just been reported in Arkansas and Governor Asa Hutchinson had called an emergency coronavirus task-force meeting.
My granddaughter, Evelyn, used the words “uncanny valley” when I mentioned taking her and her little brother, Marshall, to see the new Jim Carrey fantasy/sci-fi movie, Sonic The Hedgehog.
I took my first plane ride in 1967. Because few seats were occupied, it seemed a luxurious and expensive adventure, afforded by few. My frightened 12-year-old mind will be forever imprinted with the glamour of seeing a pretty stewardess, propped up on an armrest chatting up the businessmen on board, who were smoking cigarettes (each seat had a built in ashtray) and sipping highballs in the middle of day. It was like a Frank Sinatra movie.
Let’s Lent! By that, I mean everyone can participate in the Christian tradition of Lent that began this past Tuesday, known as Mardi Gras (or Shrove Tuesday). You don’t have to be an Anglican Christian to observe a Lenten practice for 40 days. I have Baptist friends and evangelical friends that also enjoy the season of self-improvement.
Valentine’s day doesn’t have to be just for lovers. There may be other sweethearts in your life. Look around. Who is happy to see you, brightens your day, or makes your life easier or more fulfilling?
There are so many volunteer opportunities but, with limited hours in a day, one must pick and choose carefully. Because of this fact, I have narrowed most of my volunteering to two organizations: my church, Trinity Cathedral, and the Dreamland Ballroom.
Recently, Channel 11 did a week-long feature on Little Rock’s R&B legacy. The 5-part series included an interview with my son, Matthew Savage McCoy, director of the Friends of Dreamland, about the musical heritage of the Dreamland Ballroom.
The problems facing Mother Earth can sometimes seem so big and daunting that it feels discouraging to even try to help. While casually watching Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday and hearing one of her guests talk about effecting change, a little spark of hope ignited within me. The power of one is bigger than you may think.
Since the purchase of the crumbling Taborian Hall in 1990, with its Dreamland Ballroom, I have been pleading my restoration case.
I am often aligned with creative people. In the past, I wondered why, because I didn’t feel like I had any discernible art-form. Then, one day, while interviewing a guest on Up In Your Business, I realized that business itself is creative and that problem solving with others, in the frame of business, is my art-form.
About 4 years ago, I found myself running to the car in pursuit of a new life. I knew the next day was Easter 2016, but what I didn’t realize until later is that it was also a blood moon on the Hebrew calendar.
I’ve blogged about it before: anger is a secondary emotion. It comes after a vulnerable emotion like being tired, hurt, disappointed, or lonely. It’s a defense mechanism. And with this sequence of pain comes anger, then “the voice;” that internal negative repertoire in your head. For lack of a better description, I call this nagging voice “devils speak” because, if repeated over and over in your head, it will map a really nasty little neuron pattern in your brain. And if that ain’t some kind of devil, I don’t know what is.
Our new Razorback basketball coach, Eric Musselman, was in Little Rock, Arkansas for a game at Verizon Arena and spoke at the Tip Off Club luncheon. As he walked to the podium, I was shocked at the sight of him. He is only 5’5”! I am taller than him!
Accustomed to the wide open, gawking mouths from people when they first see him, he quickly broke the ice by making a joke about his height.
The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas gets hectic for us womenfolk and, sometimes, it can be hard to stop, smell the roses, and give thanks. I feel a duty to shop, cook, and clean – as if I held all the key to everyone’s happiness – all culminating into a 48-hour marathon. Don’t you wish that were true?