Jack of all trades in an expert's world

When people tell my great grandchildren about me what will they say?  I’m almost 35 and while I have a PhD I’ve decided not to go into academia.  I have some expertise, but I’m not sure how or if I will be able to use it.  I’m facing a career change but don’t know where to go.  I used to say, “If this PhD thing doesn’t work out I’ll open a coffee shop or become a professional organizer.”  These things are totally different from my focus on poverty and social movements.  But, I wasn’t really kidding.  The fact is I love a lot of things. 

Take my major projects of the past couple years.  I made a huge and complex queen size quilt with messages from my wedding guest book.  I love it, even though the colors are a little off.  Since my daughter was born I’ve written four songs for her but I don’t envision becoming the next Raffi.  I like to do triathlons – not because I’m particularly fit, but because they involve three sports not just one.  In fact, I often walk during the run portion because I’m a terrible runner.  I love to cook.  I can be found most nights making something, even something complex, for my family.  As I look around the Bay Area foodie scene though, I have no intention of joining it.  Yesterday, I binge watched the The Mystery of Matter on PBS a historical accounting of the progression of the fields of chemistry and physics.  And last week I read a text called The Reason for God: Belief in the Age of Skepticism addressing skeptics of Christianity and outlining Christian belief (I’m Jewish).  The ideas have been occupying at least 70% of my thoughts.  

Often I wish I had more income or recognition.  I want to change the world.   But when it comes down to it, these little side projects take my time and energy and, they make me happy.  Maybe focusing on one thing would make me happy.  When I’m honest about it, I don’t really want to work 60 hours a week like so many experts and “successes” do.  My inclinations don’t really get me there.  Maybe I need more discipline.  Maybe, I should just be me.

I’m a little obsessed with Thomas Jefferson.  He was a scientist, linguist, gardener, musician, architect, and statesman.  Of course, one reason he accomplished so much is that he had women and slaves run his household and earn his living.  They were the cooks, maids, farmers, blacksmiths, and everything else that enabled his lifestyle.  Of course, I would never want to go back to that time and those injustices of oppression and inequality.  Yet, Jefferson also lived in a time of limited technology making his wide array of accomplishments easier to accomplish.  The sciences were relatively new and undeveloped – so to understand and dabble in them didn’t require a PhD or access to a huge lab.  In a country of just 2.5 million people (more than half of which could not vote and most of which had little education) competition in the realm of politics was limited. 

Today, things are different.  Most people who succeed practice or study for thousands of hours, they focus, specialize, have a little luck, and maybe after they get a ton of money they diversify.  I admire those people.  A big part of me wants to be the best at something.  I also recognize there’s a lot of ego wrapped up in that.  So instead of feeling insecure or like a failure, I hope they tell my great grandkids that I was the best at being me.

Morrocan Lamb

I have this awesome Morrocan Lamb recipe. It came from a friends Greek grandmothers cookbook. I ate lamb chops a lot a as a kid (well, special occasions), and we had this recipe for someone's birthday and it was incredible! Takes a bit of time, but is very good.

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup butter

1 large onion, very thinly sliced

1 tsp. Salt

1/2 tsp. Ground ginger

1/4 tsp. Coarsely ground pepper

1/8 tsp. Saffron

1 stick cinnamon, 2 inches long

1 pound leg of lamb, in 2 inch cubes

3/4 cup ready to eat prunes

1 tbsp. Honey

1 tbsp. Orange flower water or lemon juice

1 tbsp. Toasted sesame seeds

Heat oil and butter together in a heavy Dutch oven. Stir in onion, salt, ginger, pepper, saffron, and cinnamon. Add lamb and turn to coat with onion mixture. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for one and a half hours or until meat is very tender. Add prunes and cook 15 minutes longer. Add honey and cook five minutes longer. Remove meat to a warm serving platter. Arrange prunes on top to keep warm. Continue cooking liquid, stirring over high heat until reduced to a sauce. Stir in flower water or lemon juice. Pour over lamb and prunes and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve with crusty bread and a salad.

Enjoy!!

Elliott

My first sojourn into local politics

Last night the Palo Alto City Council voted, 7 to 2, to pass an ordinance for sleeping in a car in any public parking lot, street or other public place.  I’ve been working for a little over three weeks, together with dozens of other people, to try to convince the council not to pass this ordinance.  I’ve also been trying to learn why they held this position.  Last night many people said many things to the council.  Many more people in the city against the ordinance showed up at the meeting.  Because there were so many people, we were each allowed to speak for only 1 minute.  Here is what I said.

Hi my name is Rachel Wright.  My husband Elliott and I live here in Palo Alto.  I want to thank both the council and the coalition opposing this ordinance for giving their time to serve this community.  As Councilwoman Shepherd knows I am striving to understand where this ordinance came from and why anyone would support it.  I recognize that the council is frustrated that citizens haven’t mobilized sufficiently to address concerns related to vehicle dwelling and homelessness.  That said this ordinance does not solve this problem.  Instead it is easily understood as a symbol of disregard if not an attack on some of our most vulnerable community members.  The ordinance offends the dignity of people without homes by saying “it is illegal to sleep in the only safe space you have.” Read more broadly it tells them “you don’t belong here” and unfairly discriminates against them on the sole basis of their financial situation.  If you believe the ordinance won’t actually hurt anyone because people who sleep in their cars will continue to do so without detection, you are wrong.  It dehumanizes them because it says you must stay invisible.  Please do not vote for an unjust ordinance out of frustration.  Vote against this ordinance. 

Throughout the democratic process, listening to people’s testimonies and the council’s explanations I vacillated between many emotions.  When the homeless who are going to have nowhere else to go, because Palo Alto has woefully inadequate options, I cried.  Sometimes I felt some understanding:  the council members truly feel hamstrung on how they are supposed to deal with the fact that some people that live in their cars have nowhere to use the bathroom and that our community center was never intended to informally house dozens of people.  When politicians were looking for cover or community members suggested this was the solution to their fear for their children in public I muttered under my breath in frustration.

In fact, I’m sympathetic to the problems unregulated parking lots that become “de facto” homeless shelters may pose.  Yet, I’m flabbergasted that in one of the richest counties in the US, one of the richest nations in the world, in history there are human beings sleeping in their cars whose next option is to sleep on the street if they wish to be secure in the knowledge that they won’t receive a $1000 fine.

The bigger question that arose for me throughout this debate was – what is the role of government?  Government is slow and expensive.   A councilperson told me a nonprofit should deal with the issue because government employees with benefits are so much more costly.  Furthermore, when it gets entangled in government every citizen has a voice in the decisions that are made.  Sadly, in a democracy, when these decisions affect those who are stigmatized, hated and very vulnerable the “solutions” that arise can be degrading, harmful, and insufficient because the majority don’t want to help.  It seems like the nonprofit sector is the way to go.

But, in the end, I come down on the side of government for a couple of reasons.  First, there is a difference between voluntary charity and an entitlement.  When a nonprofit is funded through donations whims and changes in fashion can mean that their “solutions” are no longer sustainable.  When a government commits to funding something through tax money, those projects are usually (though not always) more stable.  Second, and more importantly when government does something it provides a sense of legitimacy. It says, “All citizens need to take part in funding this because it is important.”  It is the government that grants and guarantees our civil rights.  In the end, that is why this ordinance is so problematic to me.  It says that some people aren’t allowed to use our public streets even when they are not committing any crime.  It discriminates against particular individuals, low-income individuals, just for sleeping.

The government failed us last night.  It did not uphold equality because that would have been inconvenient.  Yet, this situation gives me a new respect for all those public servants facing real social problems.  Thank you to the librarian in an unsafe neighborhood who maintains a safe place for kids to study even with the challenges and discouraging moments.  Thanks to the public transit folks who must keep services open to all of us even those who are ill and have been known to assault them.  Thank you to the police and firemen who put their lives on the line, sometimes daily, to protect us.  Next to that, it may seem silly, but thank you to the community center employee who, unlike many of the neighbors, took a stand and said she is willing to deal with the challenges until a better solution can be found.  Finally, thank you to Elliott, Sandra, and Priya for your stalwart support.

I’m prayerful that we can move forward.  That I can contribute to rectifying this inequality by getting more funding for affordable housing, better wages for working people, and better services for those in need of them.

quoted in the local paper too:

http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=30521

Reflecting (on 2012) and projecting (about 2013)

It has been a formative 2012, and now on the first day of 2013 it seems appropriate to reflect and project.  

First, family.  In 2012 we encountered many ups and downs as a family.  We have gained ground collectively, and we are still gaining in momentum.  My dad has found his calling and is now doing more of what he wants - public speaking - (though he is trying to hold onto the aspects of his current work that sustains the family financially). My mom has added many new clients to her landscape design business. My brother is closing in on the last year of his Masters degree in Advanced Level Coaching (which is accompanied with a series of applications going out to various D1 schools).  My sister was promoted in her job out in D.C., and is now managing many more of the special projects (and staff) at her firm. My wife is "dissertating" quite vigorously at Stanford and is starting to collect the data that will be part of her final project.  

As for me, well, I've gained some good progress in my work in environmental conservation, recreational access, outdoor education, and the many economic uplifting benefits that such work promotes.  I'm feeling really great about the staff and team, and the conservation work that remains. The photo of the Coyote is by Bob Lewis, and it is from the area we are working to save.  The group has already accomplished so much in 2012, and with many more projects, events, and outreach efforts coming together, I feel optimistic that we will be able to achieve our objectives. 

On another level, I'm 30 years old now and it surprised me to come home and find many of my views and perspectives changed. For example: I no longer believe it's necessary to fix everything.  Some things are better left broken for other priorities and resources to take precedent.  I'm thinking right now about the distant broken relationships that I seldom encounter, and have never been capable of repairing. Another example, I'm a Stanford fan now...and more than some mid-west state like Wisconsin.  You would think that such perspectives and approaches would be permanent, but they change.
  
Projecting about 2013 is simple and difficult.  On the one hand, my experience and tangentially the experience of my friends and family will be based largely on the decisions I make, and the tone I set in my community. "Making predictions is hard, especially about the future," so perhaps the better approach to predictions is by suggesting a dedication of personal effort in a particular direction.  For me the left side of this info graphic by MaryEllen Tribby and MetEdge is the most elegant description of how I plan to approach 2013. 

 

A fun week to be thankful

On this eve of Thanksgiving Elliott and are missing family but feeling grateful just the same.  We're tucked into our little home in Palo Alto, with a baked potato dinner, and feeling like we are gaining a foothold in our respective careers.  We are so blessed for the many opportunities we have been given, for the support of the people around us and for love.  See an op-ed I wrote with my colleague Priya in the San Francisco Chronicle below.

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Prop-37-Food-movement-has-just-begun-4058131.php

"Happiness without a hangover"

By the indefatigable Pema Chodron:

"As we train in opening our hearts we gradually feel more joy, the joy that comes from a growing appreciation of our basic goodness. We still experience strong conflicting emotions, we still experience the illusion of separateness, but there is a fundamental openess that we begin to trust. This trust in our fresh, unbiased nature brings us unlimited joy - a happiness thats completely devoid of clinging and craving. Thats they joy of happiness without a hangover. 

How do we cultivate the conditions for joy to expand? We train in staying present...we stay with our little plot of earth that can be cultivated, that cultivation will bring it to its full potential. Even though its full of rocks and the soil is dry, we begin to plow this plot with patience"

Needing religion

For a long time I’ve been thinking about religion. It’s a struggle for many modern thinkers. So much of the manifestation of religion is problematic for us. It is used to justify war, discrimination, and power hierarchies we hate. It is difficult to believe in some magical being up in the sky that controls everything.

Whatever our problems with religion, if we think about it more practically it provides a map about what we believe in as a community. So even if we reject religion in its traditional manifestations I think it is something that we need.

For example, the other day I was chatting with a friend who is striving to be vegan. She is most concerned about the ethical and environmental impacts of the meat and dairy industry. She is passionate about these issues, but she does not really talk about them with others. She does not want to “preach” and she feels like it might be hypocritical to encourage this in others because she’s not “perfect” in it herself.

So many progressive people operate in this way. They make personal decisions and sacrifices because they care passionately about certain issues. Yet, they don’t necessarily have a forum to express these and share them with others and to be encouraged. None of us are perfect. We’re doing the best we can. This does not mean that we should not get encouragement and support from community. For me, the support of others makes it easier to follow these paths. It’s more fun and it serves as a reminder for why we do what we do.

 

At this time, when the world needs transformative change can we trust that the sum of individual efforts is enough? Might it be helpful to have a place in community where we establish and repeat our values and that provides us with behaviors we can be sure fulfill those values? That’s why I’m looking for religion.

Tired of close-mindedness

Today, once again, a room full of liberals pondered over the oddest thing… why do conservatives vote against their interests? Of course, when they say “interests” they actually mean “economic self-interest.” (Do they use the vague terminology to imply these individuals are crazy on more than one dimension? Is this a Freudian slip?) In any case, they are referring to all of the Republicans, rich and poor alike, that benefit or have benefited from government assistance, but suggest that government budgets and programs should be cut. Apparently, Michele Bachman’s counseling center received government grants and her husband’s family’s farm benefited from federal subsidies.

What is interesting in these liberal conversations is that one never points out how rich liberals vote against their personal economic interests. They never insinuate, “Wow, Warren Buffet must be crazy. He wants the government to tax him!” So there is a double standard – conservatives are supposed to act in economic self-interest, especially poor ones. But, liberals need do no such thing. Presumably, the reason liberals need do no such thing is because they are being generous to these low-income conservatives. They value equality more than they value economic self-interest and believe this equality is achieved through government programs providing assistance or education. Or, alternatively, they value progressive social values and are willing compromise on fiscal issues.

What they fail to realize, however, is that perhaps conservatives, even low-income ones, have values that also outweigh their economic self-interest. These values may be tied up in the abortion issue, some technical disagreement about what will best spur the economy, or a belief in self-reliance and responsibility over and above economic equality. While liberals may disagree with these values, many of them have a sound philosophical or intellectual basis and can not be dismissed as simply "misplaced." Whatever the cause, it seems to me people are entitled to, and perhaps should be encouraged to value certain things above their own economic interests. Indeed, liberals pat themselves on the back for doing so.

So the question remains as to why liberals find this behavior so baffling. I can provide but one answer. Liberals who are often wealthier than their conservative counterparts are actually very concerned about their own economic welfare. They pride themselves in their economic success. They indulge at Farmer’s Markets and stores like Whole Foods while most Americans are grateful for WalMart. They buy hybrid cars off the lot, receive subsidies for them, and pride themselves for being environmental champions – and they're wealthy enough to do so. So liberals can’t imagine how someone might not act first in economic self-interest - many have been doing so all their lives and once secure begin to give back.

I see no problem with giving back, and I'm glad people do. I just challenge people to put themselves in others shoes. When people have less material wealth, sometimes their values are their most treasured possessions. For them to hold onto those values, to champion them, to accept them before concern for their own material well-being is a beautiful thing. As liberals it is not our job to eviscerate them, and it is too easy to assume they're ignorant or illogical. Rather, if we seek tolerance, our first approach ought to be tolerating others, learning what they're about and reaching out for common ground. - Rachel