The Facebook News Feed.

My usual morning scroll through what is typically a black hole is a bit different – good different – today. I am just so proud to see this image post after post after post. “____ has changed their profile picture”…

Not that I don’t usually see lovely things on Facebook from these same people (and sometimes funny/snarky things too, let’s be real,) but this image is such a clear sign of the deep courage, compassion, and forward thinking of the incredible, brilliant people in my life. I realize that not everyone’s Facebook News Feed looks like this today. For those folks I hope that is coming someday sooner rather than later. But, for today I am reminded that I am a lucky woman.

So here it is. At the end of the day, if we are not treating all humans with the same dignity, honor, and respect, we have failed. As a country, as a people – we have failed. Crunch numbers, quote statistics, insert all the “but, what ifs” you’d like. First and foremost comes human decency, and kindness, and love. After that, none of the rest of the “noise” matters – period.

I’d prefer it if we didn’t have to deal with court cases and legal arguments about something so fundamental to our being, but America is not ready for that yet – I get it. So today, I watch with hope in my heart that the Supreme Court will help move this country forward.

For more information on the Human Rights Campaign “going red”, visit: https://www.facebook.com/humanrightscampaign

Totally random and in-the-moment post:

I am 100% a show choir girl (not ashamed), and I 100% support the usage of this wonderful little number in tonight’s episode of “gLee.” This just makes my heart smile. What a fantastic way to spend three minutes and twenty seconds.

Click “play” and go dance around your living room. You deserve it.

Have you seen this yet? My pal Dr. Amy Barnes sent it my way this fall and I’ve been sharing it with my Leadership Studies classes ever since. I thought my thirty-seven seconds readers would appreciate it, too.

Speaker Drew Dudley shares the story of a young woman who thanks him for changing her life through what he now refers to as a “lollipop moment.” What happened you ask? Watch the clip to find out. But the kicker is this:

She describes their interaction in a way that is so detailed and sincere… and he doesn’t even remember it.

We are so caught up in the rat race of trying to be more, fix more, achieve more… and most of the time, it’s just noise. And it’s drowning out our most brilliant, significant moments. Drew challenges us to stop thinking about leadership as something huge and beyond ourselves, and to start thinking about it one small, personal action at a time.

…we’ve made leadership about changing the world, and there is no world. There’s only six billion understandings of it, and if you change one person’s understanding of it, one person’s understanding of what they’re capable of, one person’s understanding of how much people care about them, one person’s understanding of how powerful an agent for change they can be in this world, you’ve changed the whole thing.

I’m willing to bet you’ve had more than a few lollipop moments. Who are those difference-makers in your life? Have you told them? If not, I hope you will. Soon. And I also hope that someone, someday tells you about the lollipop moments that you have created… just in case you have forgotten how lovely an addition your everyday presence is to this world.

And hey, hat’s off to you, Drew. (Figuratively speaking. I actually really like your hat. And your accent.)

Currently gushing over the awesomeness of these moments, right here:

Impromptu Dance Party at the Ohio Association of Student Councils’ 2012 State Conference

Ohio State Student Leadership Advocates at their 2012 Celebration Brunch

Thanks to the inspiration of a late-night photo upload, tonight’s post is about the importance of staying ; forever young. “Ahh, to be young again”… right? News flash: you can be. And, I would argue that you should be.

First, to be clear: “young,” in this case, does not mean “irresponsible,” “immature,” or “an excuse to do whatever you want without regard to consequence or consideration of others.” Basically, acting like an idiot is not the same as acting young. (Ageism is real, people. And we all know plenty of ridiculous adults.)

However, I would be okay with you thinking about the Rod Stewart song or the Bob Dylan song (later covered by The Pretenders and performed by Norah Jones as a Steve Jobs tribute, which might be my favorite version). Maybe click those links for some background music as you read the rest of this post. I think everything sounds better with background music, anyway.

Now, look at those pictures again.

Seriously (or, maybe not seriously at all,) you can feel the sheer joy, right? Be honest. Even if you didn’t realize it as it was happening, you smiled when you saw these photos. You may still be smiling. (It’s okay. I am, too. See? )

I love these shots, because it’s moments like 300 high school students starting a dance party to Fun’s “We Are Young” in the auditorium aisles before the closing session of a leadership conference, or like 15 of Ohio State’s most dedicated, intelligent, reliable student leaders choosing to commemorate a year of hard work in a moment of pure silliness, that help you remember really important things like:

A) Don’t apologize for your excitement and enthusiasm

B) Don’t “water down” your personality in response to some sort of arbitrary social expectation

C) Don’t ever stop playing, creating, or dreaming. You’ll become down right boring.

Reflecting on the lessons in these photos tonight also led me back to one of my all-time favorite books, The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. It is choc full of insight about the value of staying in touch with the qualities and practices often associated with youth, snuck into the prose in a way that is subtle, yet profound. Chapter one lays the ground work for a series of stories to come in later chapters, all of which will make you think, make you smile, and make you remember a time when you felt a bit less inhibited, a bit more curious, and most likely a lot more happy. (See below for an excerpt.)

We may not be able to forever run around like we are 8, or to forever look like we are 18 (no matter how much the housewives of __(insert city)__ and their plastic surgeons may try), but that Ponce de Leon guy may have been onto something. I hope this inspires you to at least consider getting in touch with the part of yourself that knows how to stay forever young in mind and spirit, where it really counts. Happy searching, ya’ll.

_______________________

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery – Chapter 1

Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book, called True Stories from Nature, about the primeval forest. It was a picture of a boa constrictor in the act of swallowing an animal. Here is a copy of the drawing.

In the book it said: “Boa constrictors swallow their prey whole, without chewing it. After that they are not able to move, and they sleep through the six months that they need for digestion.”

I pondered deeply, then, over the adventures of the jungle. And after some work with a colored pencil I succeeded in making my first drawing. My Drawing Number One. It looked something like this:

I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups, and asked them whether the drawing frightened them.

But they answered: “Frightened? Why should any one be frightened by a hat?”

My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. But since the grown-ups were not able to understand it, I made another drawing: I drew the inside of a boa constrictor, so that the grown-ups could see it clearly. They always need to have things explained. My Drawing Number Two looked like this:

The grown-ups’ response, this time, was to advise me to lay aside my drawings of boa constrictors, whether from the inside or the outside, and devote myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic, and grammar. That is why, at the age of six, I gave up what might have been a magnificent career as a painter. I had been disheartened by the failure of my Drawing Number One and my Drawing Number Two. Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.

So then I chose another profession, and learned to pilot airplanes. I have flown a little over all parts of the world; and it is true that geography has been very useful to me. At a glance I can distinguish China from Arizona. If one gets lost in the night, such knowledge is valuable.

In the course of this life I have had a great many encounters with a great many people who have been concerned with matters of consequence. I have lived a great deal among grown-ups. I have seen them intimately, close at hand. And that hasn’t much improved my opinion of them.

Whenever I met one of them who seemed to me at all clear-sighted, I tried the experiment of showing him my Drawing Number One, which I have always kept. I would try to find out if this was a person of true understanding. But, whoever it was, he, or she, would always say:

“That is a hat.”

Then I would never talk to that person about boa constrictors, or jungles, or stars. I would bring myself down to his level. I would talk to him about bridge, and golf, and politics, and neckties. And the grown-up would be greatly pleased to have met such a reasonable person.

_______________________

A person. A group. An organization. Whatever it is, I hope you have this kind of passion for it. And if you don’t, I hope that in this moment you might just feel moved to do something about it.

[Late-night Wednesday inspiration credit to Steve Farber and The Radical Leap, and my gal pal Ashley Jones.]

You see those? Shelf, left side? Yep. Cinnamon buns. Size of your head. And amazing.

Know what’s even more amazing? Enjoying a bit of those, an egg/potato/bacon situation, and some coffee with one of your best girls all the way on the other side of the country. Didn’t matter that Santa Monica is a foggy mess this weekend and that it’s probably warmer in Ohio. “Brunch”/ “Brunching”/ “To Brunch”… it’s a verb. It means more than just the meal. And it is one of my favorite little pleasures in life.

(Yes, I also realize that is a rather large bottle of champagne. That’s for another day…)

I spy deliciousness, and copper pots.
[Literatti Cafe, West LA]

Best omelet ever.
[Literatti Cafe, West LA]

I would like to give a shout out to the Student Activities staff at the Ohio Union at The Ohio State University. They work their behinds off, for sure. But, they also do an excellent job of taking a little “timeout” to appreciate each other’s humor, genius, and – let’s be honest – quirkiness. I think that’s pretty awesome.

Kudos to Matt Couch for setting this all up. He took requests for artists from the entire staff, then seeded them based on popularity/longevity/major hits. The staff then spent portions of our weekly staff meeting listening to song clips of each match up and voting for the winners using polling software. They completed the final round this week.

In all seriousness, check out the upsets on this sucker! Well played, friends. If there were a “thirty-seven seconds super awesome award of the week”, it would go to you.

#ilovethe90s

I have to admit, while the hours are long and the pay is, well, limiting, I really do love my work in higher education and student affairs. What it lacks in monetary compensation it makes up for in personal satisfaction. (This is likely how we justify working 12 hour days and on weekends.) In this particular case, humor wins my higher ed. heart. Tonight I choose to “reflect” on #ACPA12, thirty-seven seconds style.

ACPA: College Student Educators International is a professional organization for staff and faculty who work at colleges and universities around the world. Each year, those of us in the profession head to the Annual Convention, this year in Louisville, Kentucky. And it is typically so packed full of sessions, workshops, and presentations on everything from leadership education to social justice to strategic academic partnerships, that over-programming yourself for those four days is pretty much inevitable. Claiming that the convention is a whirlwind of activity would be the understatement of the century.

But, this is what we’re used to. We “college student educators” often profess that what we do is not a job, it is a way of life. I believe that, and I’m proud of that. Though, the time we spend being “thoughtful,” “intentional,” and “inclusive,” and the effort put into “making meaning,” “unpacking,” and “creating possibilities” (did you pick up on the jargon?) can end up consuming you to a point that you forget to just… breathe.

So, each night following the final session of the day and after stopping by a few networking receptions and “tweetups”, my pals and I committed to venturing out into Louisville to simply enjoy each other’s company. And enjoy we did.

I’d like to share with you a few snapshots from those nights. I knew that when I finally went to upload these from my iPhone that they would make me smile. Though, in taking some time to really look through them tonight, I’ve come to the conclusion that what happened those late evenings together in Louisville illustrates the first time in a long time that I’ve taken the opportunity to just let go of work, take off my educator hat, and enjoy the company of some incredibly charming and witty people.

When the the restaurant cut off the music and tried to close for the night, Kathy pulled out the iPhone and Tom created a speaker out of this lovely plastic cup. Who knew? Here, we feature Kathy’s “Ultimate Boy Band Playlist.” We stayed for another two hours. And we took the cup with us.

“Michigander in the Middle” (We made him do it.)

Me with social media all-stars, Kathy and Ed. Dream come true. #twitterati

Tom, Ed, and Chris had a slumber party. Tom brought snacks. He shared with me. He’s clearly better at peeling. #tomgerine

“On the count of 3, act like you’re having the time of your life. Ready? 1…2…3!”

Love you, friends. See you for our Vegas reunion at #ACPA13. I hear Planet Hollywood has a rockin’ ball pit…

I am of the belief that we are never done learning about each other. No matter how long you’ve know someone, how much you have in common, or how official or unofficial your relationship, people can and do continue to grow (Ideally. If you feel you can’t/don’t/won’t, then that’s a conversation for another blog post.) However, the really good stuff about us, the pieces of our character that make us truly unique and make people stop and take notice of us? Those things remain constant. If you are lucky, you will find one or a few people throughout your life who let you see “the real deal” parts of them no matter the chaos of the day/month/year/phase of life.

Enter tonight’s phone call. I got the chance to catch up with one of my real deal people. A true favorite. All in all cheerful, snarky, serious, challenging, sarcastic, empathetic… refreshing. You know the type – the people you can talk about everything and nothing with in the same conversation and at the end of it, your faith in the world has been restored. Just like that.

I actually got a pretty fantastic kick in the butt in tonight’s conversation. One I needed. I’ve been feeling restless lately, about where I am, who I’m with, what I want, what path to take next. The paradox of choice: blessed to be able to really do whatever and go wherever, talking a lot about it, and yet feeling crippled by all of the options, never making a move. Why? Well, you don’t know. You just feel like you can’t. And no matter how many different people urge you to “just do it” and make the call, their words don’t resonate with you. BUT when one of your real deal people says it, it’s like you’re hearing it for the first time. Not because of their particular words or style, or even timing. Because it came from someone who you feel you know at the core and who continues to give you the best they’ve got, no matter how long it has been or where life has taken them. That consistency, that connection, makes all the difference.

Who are those real deal people for you? The ones who could maybe give you the kick in the butt you need. The ones you’ll actually listen to, who you actually want to hear it from. Take some time to think about it. And if you’re confused by who it might be, just keep the idea in the back of your mind. The next time you talk to one, you’ll know it. I think you’ll probably even feel it. It’s probably the person you catch yourself smiling with, even just over the phone.