Presented at a conference

I was a presenter at the Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership conference this week. It's nice to have my first academic conference behind me. The presentation topic was racial representation on nonprofit boards and the effect this has on stakeholder orientation. I won't bore you with details, but basically there is a belief that white, male nonprofit boards are better at fundraising than boards including women or minorities. We tested this theory using a survey of Michigan nonprofits to see if it was true. We found that all nonprofit boards believe they have responsibilities beyond money. I received lots of good comments from attendees. The moderator was an author of one of my textbooks (which was kind of like having a celebrity sighting) - he had done research on my background in preparation for his responsibilities. He came up to me afterward and said I had a very good presentation style, he thinks it must be my experience in journalism that helped. I think it was just something I was born with - whatever that innate thing is actually helped me when studying journalism. But I didn't tell him that. I just thanked him for the compliments.

It was a star studded event, with many celebrity sightings. I met more than one author of my textbooks. There is a GIANT book on nonprofit leadership & management that I had to read for a class this semester - it is often referred to as the nonprofit bible. It is nearly 1,000 pages in length. I met the author of that book. He told me he was sorry to miss my presentation, but he heard good things about it and read the paper I wrote on the topic (they make it available to participants online for the conference). I met a woman from the Urban Institute in Washington D.C. - an organization I wouldn't mind working for when I graduate. I met representatives from consulting organizations, and other PhD students from around the nation. I even spoke with a very powerful woman in the nonprofit world locally. I've observed her from afar for years. Someone introduced me to her and I admitted this to her along with the admission that I wanted to request money from a board she sits on. She gave me her card and asked me to send the proposal to her directly. It was truly an interesting event.

It was a lot of work preparing for this event. I'm glad to have it behind me...now I can focus on projects for the end of the semester. I should actually finish in about two weeks. I can't wait!

Christmas in April

I feel like it's Christmas in April. I leave to China in about two weeks. There are lots of things Fiona has asked me to bring to her - scrapbooking supplies, books, clothing, and so much more. She ordered it on the internet and had it shipped to my house. Every day a new package arrives on my doorstep. It's like a little present, what's inside? I get to open it up and find out. So far I've received clothes from Old Navy, a couple of iPods, books (my favorite), and scrapbooking stuff. I know, I know, I'm not planning to keep the stuff...I don't need anymore stuff, but I get to open the packages and be surprised by what's inside. It's like Christmas in April. Pretty cool!

faithful?

What does it mean to be faithful? We throw this word around a lot...I think we take the meaning for granted. Faithfulness has to do with being trustworthy. It has to do with being reliable. It involves loyalty, truth and dependability. We expect faithfulness from our spouse, from our leaders, from our business relationships. What happens when our expectations of faithfulness aren't met? The result is pain, disappointment and broken relationship.

I have recently been thinking a lot about the importance of faithfulness, 1) because I am about to be married and have expectations that my future spouse will be faithful to me for the rest of our lives and 2) because my pastor since 1999 just announced he has been in an adulterous relationship with a woman on staff who was also my friend for about that long. If a man, called to be a pastor, cannot remain faithful to his commitments, to his calling, to his wife - what hope do the rest of us have? It seems like such a risky venture to put your heart in someone's hands and hope they don't crush it. I'm in the world of higher education (academia), they often talk about the "fallacy of monogamy." There are "scientists" out there who discovered that monogamy is not natural, we are animals with animal instincts and find ourselves attracted to others even when we are in a committed relationship. My response...well, duh! Sure we are attracted to others, sure we are vulnerable to temptation. If that desire, that risk were removed than faithfulness wouldn't be so valuable. It is valuable because it isn't guaranteed, because we are human and imperfect and can mess up, but instead of give in to our impulses we choose to deny those desires and commit to one person for a lifetime. That is why that commitment, those vows have value - if faithfulness were easy it wouldn't be such a big deal; it's a big deal because it isn't easy.

Wedding #1 location

We have selected the location for wedding number one (the legally binding ceremony). We plan to have a VERY small gathering of close friends, Mr. Jones will be the officiant, we will exchange vows and ask those present to hold us to the vows we make that day (more than just attendees, but true witnesses to the promise we make and our lives together). The location is a botanic garden way south of the city. We have already received permission to use it free of charge. The scheduled date is June 16 - exactly one year from our first lunch date. I imagine the location will be even prettier in June when the flowers and plants are in full bloom. It also won't be too hot and humid by then.


The walk to the wedding location.


The wedding site - a small plot of cement just off the walking path. Quaint, beautiful and absolutely free, what more could a bride ask for.

Not as young as we used to be..

That was the theme for yesterday. I was having Kenyon try some yoga poses with me. He was grunting, I was sweating...half-way through an inverted pose he said, "we aren't as young as we used to be." Which caused me to laugh, loose all concentration, and I ended up in a ball on the floor. Not much later I convinced him to go roller skating with me. I've been sitting in front of a computer for at least 10 hours a day all week working on a conference paper and I wanted to get out and moooove. As we are rolling around the rink he comes up to me sweaty and says, "we aren't as young as we used to be, I just can't keep going like these young folks." On our roller skating excursion I took a nasty fall because there was a piece of some one's stopper left on the rink, that stopped me in my tracks. I've given myself a sore wrist and a bruised tailbone. What was Kenyon's response? You guessed it...say it together now...we're not as young as we used to be. He decided to participate in the speed skating competition at the roller rink. They had a 20 and older category. At the end, he came off the rink panting. The DJ actually stopped the competition because he said the contestants looked tired - and they did. They hadn't even finished one song. Kenyon only had one thing to say while shaking his head...we just aren't as young as we used to be. Have you ever had that feeling? At least we can laugh about it - it did make me appreciate that I can still do yoga and roller skate, because some day, I'm not going to be as young as I am now.