Trains, Feminists, and Symphonies

"When I care to be powerful -- to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid."
– Audre Lorde (1934-1992)

I've always enjoyed train travel, but even more so now that flying has become such a drag. So I'd planned to blog about the sights and sounds of yesterday's ride on the Wolverine line from my big sisters in Chicago to my kid sister in small-town Michigan. It was a mellow and relaxing ride brightened by late autumn leaves and the mingled soundtracks of the train and my iPod. But when I had settled in at her place and logged on, my plans were derailed.

Before settling in to blog, I thought I'd catch up on email and some of my favorite web sites. While doing so I ran across yet another woman who felt the need to declare that she is "not a feminist" in order to make sure no one thinks she's one of those threatening man-haters. I'm going to make a big assumption here that if you're reading my blog you can understand why those words were like fingernails on a blackboard to me.

So my reaction – after "Arrrrrrggghhh!!!" – was to go surfing for inspiration and hope and counteractive definitions of feminism that would make it so obvious that every self-respecting woman of any age would immediately want to buy one of those great t-shirts that say "This is what a feminist looks like" and that a goodly number of men would do so as well. My surfing led me to 1001 Feminist Quotes (e.g, "Feminism is for everybody." - Bell Hooks and "In my heart, I think a woman has two choices: either she's a feminist or a masochist." — Gloria Steinem) and I started to feel a lot better.

Then my sister came in and got me giggling by reading aloud a timely passage from Ivy Briefs, True Tales of a Neurotic Law Student by Martha Kimes, on how difficult it is to keep one's attention to one's studies, and I was reminded that I had intended to write but instead had spent all my time web-surfing. I signed off without blogging and watched a video with the family instead.

Fast forward to this evening when my niece played clarinet in a symphony performance. It was a great concert; she had fun and played well, and then we all went out to dinner. As we drove home, I thought again about why I'm a feminist. Not only because I'm a woman but because I have sisters and nieces and because there is a world full of wonderful and inspiring women and girls who should not ever be considered or treated as second-class citizens. I sat down to get back to my blogging but first went back to the source of the "not a feminist" comment that I'd followed off-track last night. A lively discussion had followed that comment and it had resolved fairly well. I breathed a sigh of relief. Leaping Woman would not have to leap into the fray. After all, I'm on vacation.

Thanks to my sister for the boost I got when, while sighing with relief, I looked down and saw my blog bookmarked on her desktop. Sisterhood is powerful!

Tomorrow, I'm back on the train to spend a couple of days with Mom. When I fly, the trip is just a means to an end. When I take the train, the journey is part of the fun. Maybe I'll tell you about it when I get there. Maybe.

Shifting Gears

"You should always know when you are shifting gears in your life. You should leave your eras; they should never leave you."
-- Leontyne Price

Today it's been exactly one month since I packed up my office and voluntarily left my job. It was a good job in many ways: It was challenging and I was always learning. I worked with some fine and delightful people with whom I accomplished a lot, and who will remain friends and valued colleagues. Leaving my job was more about what I want to move towards than it was about what I leave behind. I made a conscious choice to leave that "era" of my career, so no regrets.

The last month has been somewhat chaotic, as most transitions are. It's been a mixture of catching up on sleep and doctor appointments; enjoying more time with KJ; riding, playing and exploring (offline and online); organizing the stuff I brought home from work; and getting started at ABI. My mind is filled with ideas and new information, and overflowing with possibilities.

Today I'm heading East to visit my family over Thanksgiving. I have so much to be thankful for, foremost of which is KJ's complete support for this leap I've taken. And I'm grateful to be working with the fine folks at the Anita Borg Institute, and to have this opportunity to give back to the technical women's community from which I've drawn support. I could go on and on, but I have a plane to catch today, so I'll stop here.

Tales of a Tech Woman

"Don't wait for something big to occur. Start where you are, with what you have, and that will always lead you into something greater."
-- poet Mary Mann Morrissey

Things are getting rolling at ABI now. I spent several hours there on Thursday and Friday, and I'm so thrilled to be working with this nonprofit led by the awesome CEO Telle Whitney. Telle and I talked about my goals and interests and agreed on the primary project that research director Caroline Simard had selected for me. It's a great fit based on my interests in and experience with corporate women's groups (and my own experiences as a technical woman) so I dove in and started reading up on background materials.

At home, I kept sitting down to blog and getting distracted by other cool, interesting and relevant stuff on the web. Now that I'm part of ABI I'm paying closer attention to my incoming Systers email, where there are often pointers to articles about or resources for technical women. And I've been reading a lot about social media and nonprofits. Between Systers and reading Beth's Blog (that alone seems to send me off to a dozen other useful blogs, videos, etc. every time I read it) I've been doing an awful lot of tagging on del.icio.us.

Big Day on the Trike

"Nothing compares with the simple pleasure of a bike ride."
— John F. Kennedy

It was a beautiful sunny day and I spent the first half of it online. After lunch, KJ and I got out our wheels and pedaled over to the Y. Round-trip we did four miles — which made this my longest trike ride yet (albeit with quite a break in the middle). Also it was the most traffic I'd been out in. But the drivers behaved and I didn't stress. We must have been quite a sight on our two recumbents, bike and trike. I was smiling the whole way.

At my last job, I used the company's on-site gym primarily for Pilates classes, which were offered only intermittently. Outside of class, I found it hard to tear myself away from my desk to workout. So one of my goals in quitting that job was to establish new habits around exercise before I start the next one.

So, not only did we ride over to the Y, but we went in and added me to KJ's membership. And whether we ride or drive over, the option of going together is likely to get both of us there more often.

Isn't it delicious?

Better late than never.
-- Titus Livius (59 BC - 17 AD)

I finally made the leap and signed up for del.icio.us. What pushed me over the edge was the exponentially increasing numbers of bookmarks I've accumulated lately. So I spent this morning tagging those links and removing them from my bookmarks folder. Of course it's perfectly obvious to me now that I should have done this a long time ago.

Monday Afternoon Play Date

While I didn't quit my job to be a slacker, I'm definitely enjoying my unscheduled days (until I have a badge and a place to sit at ABI). This afternoon, our plans to see a matinee fell through so KJ and I went to play mini-golf instead.

Freedom to Browse

"Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense."
-- Gertrude Stein

I'm always looking for quotes from women since most of the web (and print) collections are dominated by men. I also look for quotes on learning that are relevant to my work in training. But sometimes the search for the right uplifting, thought-provoking, entertaining, or at least relevant quote becomes such a time sink that I have to let it go.

For example, I went looking for something for my previous post, Freedom to Learn and Play. My search spread, intermittently, over a few days and took me to several sites with quotes by women:

• Feminism Quotes
• Quotations by Notable Women
  
• Quotable Women
• Women's Quotations
  

Four days later my browsing and searching had led me, by a delightfully circuitous route, to this quote:

"We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn."
-- Mary Catherine Bateson

But not before I'd spent hours reading blogs such as Beth's Blog on social media for nonprofits, watched a few educational videos, signed up for Sloodle, browsed a Second Life virtual bookstore, and grazed many other sites including a LifeHack article Learn Something New Every Day that tempted me with links to more great sites.

I suppose that roundabout journey could be considered "losing my common sense" as Gertrude described. But I had so much fun and learned so much (Sloodle!) that it could as easily be considered "coming to my senses." Still, Gertrude's quote describes modern information overload so well that it's hard to believe she died in 1946. And to get the hang of blogging I may have to start partitioning my reading time from my writing.

Freedom to Learn and Play

One of the great benefits of quitting my job has been time to play with more flavors of Web 2.0 technology. In addition to creating this blog I've been reading the fantastic blogs of women I met at She's Geeky, and playing with Flickr, SlideShare, Second Life, etc. In my last job I'd been working a lot with the Confluence wiki, and towards the end had linked up with 150+ connections in LinkedIn, but hadn't had a chance to play with much else.

One of the other pleasures of not having a 9-5 job is riding my Sun EZ3 USX recumbent trike around the neighborhood in the middle of a week day when there aren't a lot of cars on the road. I hadn't been on a bike for years (long story) and although I can't ride far or long yet, it's lots of fun tootling around. The EZ3 USX is almost a comfy chair with wheels. Note the under-seat steering.

Of course all this leisure is about to change as I start my service year with the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI). Today I attended my first program team meeting, and got a sense of what I'll be working on, at least initially. More on that later, however. Right now my sweetie is home and it's time for dinner.