Diana's Blog: Quirky Words and Book Reviews

August 31, 2008
It is the last day of August, and we have felt the chill of Fall for at least a week now. Too soon for the Northwest where rains fall for about nine months steady. I notice lights are out -- one in the hallway where three should be lit; three out in the kitchen where eight spotlights should shine. I find a hidden cache of spotlights, and swiftly change the four dark ones, leaving all the lights on when I am done. It is too dark. It is still summer. I want the heat. I want the light. I discover a book on one of my bookshelves I'd forgotten about -- it is FENG SHUI IN A WEEKEND. It is Sunday. Why not.
Usually when I read a Feng Shui book, I feel very discouraged. When I check my home against a feng shui book's recommendations, I come close to flunking. And, yet, when I held a small fund-raiser at my home for Itafari a couple of weeks ago, at least one of the guests remarked how at home she felt, embraced, I think she put it, when she walked inside.
I've lived in this house about half my life, and -- except for a few kids' birthday parties -- I didn't have a party for adults until four years ago. And, then I wouldn't do it until a friend who knows a lot about hospitality promised to be there with me every step of the way. Another errant quirk I have had to heal. Another odd consequence of actions taken by my mother and stepfather. We had parties in our house all the time when I was growing up. Adult parties. Drunken parties. Often violent parties.
"What if it happens again?" the small child voice inside would whisper, putting the nix on any such idea.
"Why would I want to chance replicating that?" my adult voice would translate.
Plants would die in that house where I grew up.
It took years before I would buy any plants for my own home. They live! There's a beautiful green-leafed plant in a bright red pot -- a gift from a friend from a cutting that has survived several generations in her family. "Imagine that!" I tell the little girl voice inside. And there's a tall green plant at the end of the hall, sharing a pot with an avocado plant that accidentally grew when I put a pit in there. Transcending the trauma.
Put plants near your electronic equipment, says FENG SHUI IN A WEEKEND. Author Simon Brown says plants can make your home more yang. Every room should have at least two plants.
This book is beautiful. It feels good and inviting. On every page colorful, bold images impart key information -- Letting Go, which breezily instructs how to handle clutter; Mirrors, which you should not place facing the front door; Adding Excitement, you can choose candles or spotlights for two different moods. I'm Yang, it seems.
There's even a Feng Shui astrology. I look up my birthdate and find my three colors -- purple, black and pink. Ironically, the same three colors I love to wear. My favorites. So I am convinced enough. There's no way I can transform my home this weekend, but I will light my candles, declutter my desk, and surround my computer monitor with gorgeous green plants.
And they will live.

Labels: FENG SHUI IN A WEEKEND, Itafari, party, plants, Simon Brown, transcending the trauma

August 19, 2008
One of Glenn Kaplan's answers leaped out of our interview. And it was to my question "What was the spark for EVIL, INC?" Glenn says that during his research for an earlier, non-fiction book, Bruce Henderson, a consultant, told him that CEO's of big companies have a lot in common with sociopaths. That goes to explaining the headlines I read on the air -- the massive layoffs, the multi-million dollar payoffs to CEO's, the insanely high gas prices.
But what I don't read on the air is the pure goodness of gracious friends doing what they can for people they've never met halfway around the world. All these actions, at whatever size, shift us into a world that has heart. Actions such as those I witnessed in my very own home tonight.
I hosted a gathering for Itafari. The word means brick among the people of Rwanda. And Vicky Trabash, a co-founder of Itafari, unveiled her story before a room full of warm and wonderful people. I didn't take notes, but what clings to my heart -- devastatingly poor Rwandan women who prostitute themselves for one-dollar, or, for unprotected sex, they can get two-dollars, often resulting in AIDS babies who die long before their time. Another tragedy. But, Vicky tells us our dollars can buy goats, build a school, sponsor a child. There are baskets, woven by the women, glorious baskets,woven with their joyfulness at creating a work of art someone in the U-S will buy,and you feel the energy in the flawless work. You hold a basket, you feel the story of the woman who wove it -- and in case you forget, there is her signature woven on a scrap of paper to the basket. One woman who had just been laid off -- there it is again -- clutched a beautiful green and black and orange basket to her chest, saying she couldn't leave it -- she had to buy it even if she wasn't sure of her financial future.
Glenn's chilly thriller takes us around the world, too, and we see how mercenaries cover up a crime that has killed thousands at a company, including the family of his main character, family man, Ken Olson. EVIL, INC could come true.
I've been interviewing hundreds of MBA students lately, and I see how so many treasure the bottom line...and only a few watch to keep low the number of people fired, laid off, quitting. It's a numbers game. Which numbers will future CEO's watch?
Basket by basket, bangle by bangle, brick by brick, dollar by dollar, the beautiful women in my living room are connecting with the women of Rwanda, those who are left after the crippling, evil destruction of their country.
Usually, at these functions, one child is "adopted." Vicky tells me among these beautiful women, six children are adopted. Six!
Now that's a story.


How not to wear a basket:

Labels: books, CEO, EVIL, Glenn Kaplan, good versus evil, INC, Itafari, layoffs, Vicky Trabash