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Hey Chel you know it’s kinda funny

Last night I was out with some friends at Superfine, one of my favorite restaurants in the whole of Brooklyn, and the jukebox was playing a pretty delightful blend of 80s alternative (remember “alternative?”).  I was buzzing along with the conversation and occasionally tuning into the music when all of a sudden I realized the song playing was “Anchorage” by Michelle Shocked.

I had forgotten it existed.  Completely.  Until last night, I probably hadn’t heard it for a decade-and-a-half.  But even though I hadn’t listened to it in ages, I found myself nodding my head and singing along to the chorus:

Hey Chel you know it’s kinda funny
Texas always seems so big
But you know you’re in the largest state in the Union
When you’re anchored down in Anchorage

In the singing along, I not only remembered “Anchorage,” I rediscovered it.  This is a song about old friends reconnecting and reflecting.  When I first heard this song in 1988, I was a thirteen-year-old dreaming of getting out and beyond (I didn’t know what that meant, exactly, but it meant something big) and an obsessive letter writer.  I think could imagine “Anchorage” as a correspondence I would be having one day, when I was all grown up.  Could it be I’m all grown up?  Well, weirdly, yes.

Rediscovering it, now, feels like a musical hug from the universe.

I took time out to write to my old friend
I walked across that burning bridge
I mailed my letter off to Dallas but her reply came from Anchorage, Alaska

She said, Hey girl it’s about time you wrote
It’s been over two years, my old friend
Take me back to the days of the foreign telegrams
And the all night rock and rolling
Hey Chel we was wild then

I’ve had so many moments of reconnection the past two years, thanks to the internets.  I’m no longer surprised when I get a Facebook invite out of the blue from someone I haven’t talked to in a decade.  Rather than feel surprised these days, I mostly just think it’s about time you wrote.

And there’s something reflective and shy in all of our reintroductions.  We’re almost always laughing at ourselves even as we’re seriously trying to make something of the words we send into each other’s orbits.

Leroy got a better job so we moved
Kevin lost a tooth, he’s started school
I’ve got a brand new eight month old baby girl
I sound like a housewife
Hey Chel, I think I’m a housewife

The bittersweetness of thinking about where we are and where we thought we would be.  (Or maybe where we thought everyone else thought we would be?)

Hey girl what’s it like to be in New York?
New York City, imagine that
…
Leroy says send a picture
Leroy says hello
Leroy says keep on rocking, girl
Keep on rocking

(Here I am, in New York City.  Did I know that would happen when I was thirteen?  Imagine that.)

I came home last night and played the song for E. I dreamed through the chorus, and I’ve been singing it all day.

Keep on rocking, friends.

New Book Review in the Latest Issue of Bitch Magazine

Here’s some shameless self-promotion and a shout-out to feminist media for your Thursday!  I review There She Goes: Feminist Filmmaking and Beyond, edited by Corinn Columpar and Sophie Mayer, for the latest issue of Bitch magazine, which you can get here.  This is a very worthy collection of academic essays, and it makes me excited about a whole ton of new directions in feminist film scholarship.

I confess that I haven’t done a great deal of publication writing lately.  I’ve been awfully busy with client work. However, I’m always so pleased to be a part of a lot of very important feminist conversations!

Quick Hit: The Importance of Progress

The Harvard Business Review has some great breakthrough ideas in their Jan-Feb issue, but I was really fascinated by their findings on what really motivates workers.  In their survey of a range of “knowledge workers,” HBR found that what employees value the most wasn’t incentive or recognition – which are among the things that managers believe employees value most – but progress.  The ability to get things done and make forward progress: this is what drives and motivates:

On days when workers have the sense they’re making headway in their jobs, or when they receive support that helps them overcome obstacles, their emotions are most positive and their drive to succeed is at its peak. On days when they feel they are spinning their wheels or encountering roadblocks to meaningful accomplishment, their moods and motivation are lowest.

I find this a particularly insightful finding for both the non-profit sector and volunteer programming, where recognition and incentive are difficult to come by, anyway.  This kind of study reinforces the importance of creating highly functional non-profit organizations that allow people to get real and meaningful work done, as well as volunteer programs that actively manage volunteer expectations and give participants good tools.  Read the article here.

I’ll be taking this information to heart as I manage people and projects going forward.

Rounding Up Some Recent Releases

Quick thoughts on some newish flicks…

Terribly Happy (Frygtelig lykkelig)

Fans of David Lynch, the Coen Brothers, Shirley Jackson stories, and noir-Westerns should definitely get out to see Terribly Happy, Denmark’s Oscar selection.  It’s all kinds of creepy, tense and funny – the kind of mystery that sparks a-ha(!) moments many hours and conversations after you’ve left the theatre.  The film has a lot to say about the suffocating conservatism/weirdness of small communities, who controls the power in them, and mental instability.  I need to see it again.  I want to see it again!  It’s terribly awesome. Also, if I ever got a cat, I would name it Mojn. [Looks like Terribly Happy is going to be remade in English - by the original director.  Let's hope this isn't another The Vanishing...]

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Getting In: Using Linkedin to Market Your Small Business

(This is a guest post I contributed to the Design Rangers Camp Blog.  Posting it here for your reading/marketing enjoyment!)

Linkedin has become a powerful tool for professionals looking to network and find career opportunities as well as companies looking for talent. Linkedin also provides some unique tools that can be particularly effective for small business marketing.

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