Sassistas! Our dish on the social soup.

Mean Man

Today's was Flannista's fourth class with her precious First Graders, and before we actually started class, Flann wrote two words on the white board and asked the kids to think about what those words meant. The two words were: VITAL METRICS.  For those of you new to the sass stream this week, "Vital Metrics" was the theme of a speech given by a CEO at a company annual meeting this week.  

"What do these two words mean?" Flann asked the class. Following are their answers:

• "The man who said this is very mean."
• "Busy staff"
• "Metal"
• "Words stacking up"
• "He wants everyone to think he's a big grown-up."
• "This person wants to be famous."
• "This person wants people to know he can do anything he wants to."

Out of the mouths of babes.

Today's lesson was on writing based on what we can taste.  I shall post several lessons in the sass stream, but here's one of the writing exercises:

The purple object after the exercise is pizza, by the way.  Why purple?  "To match Miss Flann's hair."

 

Know Your Place

Three weeks ago today, Flannista finally had lunch with the Chief Financial Officer of all of TRM's companies. I had asked him in November if I could take him out to lunch; three months later, our schedules finally synched. His executive assistant told me that he preferred to eat lunch at the office and ordered what each of us wanted from the Panera Bread menu. She then arranged for us to meet in one of TRM's small dining rooms. Because he had been sick with the stomach flu for several days, the CFO simply ordered a bowl of chicken soup. I ordered a Fugi Apple salad.

When I arrived at the dining room, I saw two place settings.  At one place setting was a linen placemat with a china bowl filled with chicken soup sitting on a large china plate.  Next to the plate was a complete set of sterling silver utensils, including a soup spoon and a linen napkin. To the upper right of the plate was a crystal glass filled with ice.  Next to the glass was a can of Diet Coke. 

The other place setting included a bottle of water next to a sealed Panera Bread box. No china. No silver. No crystal glass. No ice. No linen napkin. Going on a hunch, I opened up the box. Inside was the Fugi Apple salad in its plastic container. Also inside was a set of hermetically-sealed plasticware with napkin and a cookie.

The CFO was 50 minutes late for our lunch. Even though we had a very open and honest conversation, I couldn't quite get past knowing my place.

Three times while I waited for him, his assistant entered the small dining room, took his chicken soup and heated it up in a nearby microwave.

He didn't touch one drop of the soup.

I ate my entire salad.  Drank my bottle of water. Easily disposed of the box. Went back to shooting a video. Saved my cookie. I ate it later in my hotel room, alone. No china. No silver. No crystal glass. No ice. No linen napkin. 

It tasted great.

 

 

 

Comfortable

 

"If you can apply the word 'comfortable'

to anything in your life other than

your favorite pair of shoes,

you need to re-examine it."

 

DISCUSS

Miss Flann

Flann's goin' in.

I passed inspection.  Was fingerprinted.  No criminal history. So this morning, I'm going to meet a few First Graders . . . and then I'm going to fasten my seat belt because I'm going to learn some new things!

I outlined a simple lesson plan for Day One of my overall objective: "Tell YOUR Story!" This morning, kids will share with me ONE beautiful thing they saw after they woke up and what that ONE beautiful thing taught them about the world around them.

Then I shall read one of my favorite kid books, Baboon to them, and we'll talk about what the baby baboon learned from looking at the world all around him.

Next, I'll introduce them to their very own composition books and pencils!  I'll let them know as long as they have these two things, they will never lose their way.

Listening to them, I know I won't lose my way, either.  A HUGE wet one and a very deep bow to treesta for providing the opportunity to learn something from the kids she loves so much. I'll report back on the experience when I get back. In the mean time, send prayers and good thoughts for these sweet young things.

 

 

Solstice Tree

The Sassistas! would like to acknowledge and thank Lovasista

for sassgesting and dishing the following sass.  We love you!

I am getting ready for the Solstice Tree -- do you remember me telling you how I will get a tree in the evening of the 24th -- one that did not make it into a home for Christmas? I put it into the ground, smear peanut butter on each branch, then cover with bird seeds. I then tie prayer bundles that represent each family member  to the tree -- each bundle has a corn meal offering and prayer -- it is all about the intention.

I would love the names of each sista and mista and family members that they wish to have a prayer bundle for. Even bundles for those who have crossed over. Just tell them to list the name and the intention of the prayer. I will do prayer and start doing the bundles on the 22nd and will continue to tie until Christmas morning. I can print off each sista and mista's intention and have that attached to the bundle also. The animals will be gifted, and they in turn will gift all of us.  The tree will stand until I do a fire ceremony Spring equinox.

This is our gift to the sassosphere.

What a lovely offer, Lovasista.  

Names and prayer intentions are forthcoming! 

 

Making Friends

On Sunday evening, while dining with the former poet laureate and his wife, the poet told the Sassistas!: "Thank you so much for coming. At our age, it's hard to make new friends."

Baffled by his statement, Flannista asked why it was hard. He was, after all, a former poet laureate and, for the past 18 years, the director of the most prestigious summer writing workshop in the country. He said: 

My wife and I realized that at our age, we tend to stick with the friends we have. Don't get me wrong, we love them, but we don't spend time together because we're used to each other or something. After meeting you two at the B & B two weeks ago and hitting it off so well, we decided to make the effort to make new friends.

The Sassistas! are, of course, grateful and flattered, but it got us thinking about how often or how seldom we make an effort to nurture new friendships.  We even read recently that making new friends is very good for aging brains.

What about you? Are you stuck in a rut with your friends? Do you make the time to make new ones? What's the secret?

 

I Loved Her

While hiking Wye Island on the first Sunday of Advent, treesta pointed out to the Sassistas! the above beech tree. On May 24, 1991, a couple first carved their initials and the date. They did this for more than a decade. Below is another side of the tree which reveals how this story ends.

What was their story?

11/11/11

For the first time since 1/1/01, a date with repeating numbers is a holiday, namely Veteran's Day.  When asked recently how Americans ought to mark the day, a Vietnam veteran suggested calling it, "A National Day of Listening to Veterans".  

The veteran was responding to psychologist Paula J. Caplan who, in a recent Washington Post article detailed the benefits of listening to veterans.  All too often when we encounter a veteran we blurt out, "Thank you for your service," and then turn away.  According to Caplan, we -- citizens of a "war-illiterate nation" -- ought to stop and listen to their stories:

Veterans tend to suffer in isolation, and vast research shows that isolation worsens nearly every kind of emotional pain. We ignore the silent suffering of untold numbers of the 23 million American veterans while substance abuse, family breakdown, domestic violence, homelessness and suicide rates among their ranks steadily rise. Although only about 7 percent of Americans have served in the military, veterans account for 20 percent of suicides in this country. In addition, the Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that veterans make up about one-fifth of the homeless population. At a Harvard conference this past week on welcoming veterans home, Andrew McCawley, chief executive of the New England Center for Homeless Veterans, predicted that the numbers will rise even more when currently deployed service members return.

Caplan goes on to write that "many people mistakenly believe that only therapists know how to heal those veterans who are experiencing grief, fear, shame, anxiety, loss of innocence of moral anguish. Nothing could be further from the truth."

Taking the time to listen transforms not only the veteran but the person listening.  According to Caplan:

When I began listening to veterans years ago, I discovered the power of this simple act. These veterans are the forward observers for the rest of us. They have encountered the most extreme situations, fought for their lives, seen buddies blown apart, killed other human beings and forged intense bonds with other service members. They have experienced the most powerful emotions — positive and negative — that anyone can have. All of that, combined with the honesty of the veterans who spoke to me, made these sessions sacred time.

All of us could use some more sacred time. The next time you see a veteran, offer to buy her or him a cup of coffee.  Thank them for their service to our country.  Then say, "If you want to talk about your experience, I'd like to listen.  I won't judge.  I'll just listen."  Show the vet that you care. And be prepared to be transformed.

Same Time Next Year 2011

Hey sistas and mistas! It's that time of year . . . Matissta's Fall Foliage Fotos! Click here to view what she photographed last year. Flannista (who took the first photo and the last photo below) thinks she's getting better and better.  Thanks again, Matiss, for sharing your gifted eye with us.

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

Reservation for Two

Yesterday, the Sassistas! received the above photograph and the following commentary from Justista:

Justista and Sukey spent 4 summers on the Cherokee reservation in North Carolina where their Daddy played Chief Junaluska in the Unto These Hills pageant (the story of the Trail of Tears). Here are the sisters in front of the house that was delivered by truck. This was our summer vacation until the tribe's consciousness was raised and it felt unseemly for a white man to play the chief.

The Sassistas! LOVE this photo from Justista and are honored to post it here.  God be with Justista, Sukey and their legless daddy.  

xoxo