Tag Archives: nyc

Smart People Talking About One Thing: Women In Charge

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 A back room full of attractive, driven people got together Monday night over platters of roasted cauliflower and beer-braised chicken for an “Essay Club” (less commitment than a book club) about “Women in Charge.” I can’t remember the last time I had a chance to talk at length with smart people about one focused topic, and it was valuable time (reading the assigned essays in advance, the conversation itself, and the thoughts I keep coming back to in the wake of it).

At my end of the table, we had to keeping calling ourselves back to the fact that this is who we are in the conversation: three women with advanced degrees joined by two men who have founded startups and led companies, all of us living in New York City. Life does not suck for us — not even a little bit — when it comes to what and how we’re doing professionally right this moment.

And yet, we worry about why more women aren’t in charge, who is in charge and how to get more of us in those roles. We wonder how we can duck any curveballs about to be lobbied our way in the workplace.

Read the rest of my post over on Medium.

Photo credit: Chris Gold on Flickr

All These Love Letters

As I walked down the G train platform headed home from Williamsburg, I noticed the busker had done very well judging by the number of dollars fluttering in his guitar case.

A woman was speaking to him. I overheard her saying she booked talent at such and such place and that she’d tell them about him. As I moved further down the platform, behind me I heard her ask him, “What’s your name again?”

NYC Subway Busker

He launched into another song as I found a spot on the platform. His voice was low and soft, the strumming of his guitar a light, silk-like backdrop for sound waves the color of a good chocolate. I didn’t recognize the song but it was beautiful in his voice. After a break in the song, all of a moment, a woman’s voice joined in for the chorus.

I peeked back from behind a column, and it’s the same woman he’d been speaking to when I walked past. And her voice was strong, clear like a bell and deeply melodic. She didn’t ask for permission. She just sang. Across the platform, I caught a man shaking his head and smiling in wonder as he likely thought, “New York, I love you.”

They wrapped up the song together and I looked back again. We, the people on the platform, shared a round of applause for the impromptu duo. The busker smiled broadly and stomped, blown away by the random stranger’s voice. A beat later and he was kneeling down next to where she sat on the bench, exchanging telephone numbers.

As the train on the opposite platform departed, the busker eased into Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together.” His new lady friend’s voice joined in again at the chorus, and her voice seemed to agree with the song. Then our train pulled into the station and I boarded thinking, “I love you, New York.”

And I rode home thinking about how many people living here this weekend thought, felt, wrote that same thing.

All these love letters.

Take Me: Street Art in Brooklyn

This is a series of posters plastered on the blocks surrounding Fort Greene Park in my neighborhood (Fort Greene, Brooklyn).

I saw them on an early evening walk tonight. There were at least five more versions, but these were my favorites.

“Take me: Being with you and not being with you is the only way I have to measure my time.”

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“Take me: Neither you nor I are ready to meet.”

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“Take me: The first time I didn’t know you. The second time I did.”

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Killing the Ifs

Bleeker Street, 1.25.2010I was on the C Train, dressed up for a viewing party for the Oscars at a nice bar called Greenhouse. I was meeting a girlfriend of mine there.

I was reading something on my phone, then I looked up and electricity passed between my heart and his. You know that feeling. When you see someone in the crowd and your heart flip-flops. You get a chill that starts at the base of your spine, spreads to your stomach and ends with the hair standing up on back of your neck. You just know. I know within seconds if a person is going to be a real part of my life.

I looked back down at my phone. Tried to avoid his eyes. Looked back up, and he was straight up staring at me. He was gorgeous. A head of dark, thick curly hair and curious eyes. Tall. And still staring. Continue reading

Give Me Tomatoes or Give Me Nail Polish: How American Apparel Missed a Handmade Opportunity

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a bottle of nail polish at American Apparel. I’d noticed how shiny and red my friend Sarah’s nails were while we were out to brunch that morning. She’d just bought that color along with a one of the grey hues from American Apparel. Given that we’re both design/branding nerds, we wound up talking about the controversial brand for a little bit.

Sarah told me the line of nail polish had just come out. It sounded unique because the colors were textile-based or had some other industrial influence, so people would see some shades in the line not typically found in other polish lines like OPI or Essie.

There happened to be an American Apparel in the neighborhood we were in, so after walking Sarah to her car, I headed over to check out the nail polish.

I picked up a color called Factory Grey. (I love the color grey.) It’s the second bottle from the right in the top row in the photo below. I snapped the shot with my phone and posted it to my microblog.

American Apparel Nail Polish In-Store Display, Jan. 18

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