do

what do i do?

the most important thing i do is try to affect the world one conversation at a time. i think it is possible and so i go out into the world each day knowing that i have things to learn and things to teach.

my work:
major themes that define the work i do:

• food.
  we have a mega crisis staring us down.  if people would turn off their tv’s and get out of their cars, they might see it. what happens when gas is $5 a gallon and we are shipping food from thousands of miles away?  how do you afford food and gas? what happens when all the beef on the planet is recalled because of contamination?  i live for the day when people wake up to the corn conspiracy that fills our grocery stores with crap that gives us cancer.
  what if we start buying food from people we know?  what if your neighbors grow your veggies and kill your cow?  it can happen. when i was a kid, helping with dinner often meant going out into the garden to get some food that ended up on our plates.  i lived 40 miles from NYC in a suburb – not a farm girl, but this is what we did.  i thought everyone did. i know that i will never grow my coffee beans in my backyard – but i can plant a victory garden. my mission – get people excited about eating real food.

• cooperative business.
  the traditional corporate business models are not the only option out there. imagine a business where the owners are the people who actually use it.  the business brings them the products and services they want and need. owners get a share of the profits based on how much they use the business. i think the cooperative business model can teach us something about having enough.  it can make the gap between rich and poor a little bit smaller.  i believe you can run a big business that is connected to the community it serves and acts in ways that are a response to real people.  service is the bottom line, not profit.  my mission – educate and evangelize about alternatives to profit driven shareholder corporations, start more co-ops.

i am a musician. this is what i was trained to do. i fell into the business world when confronted with the reality of being a starving musician.  several years into it i realized that i loved the work.  currently, i work for a natural foods grocery cooperative in bloomington, indiana. my job title of ‘systems and planning coordinator’ includes things like business planning, project management, systems creation, evaluation, and improvement, and management of all things tech related. but i stock groceries sometimes too.  my most recent projects include the building of a new grocery store, the launching of a joomla based website, and the facilitation of an annual planning process that gives consideration to nearly 200 staff and what they will be doing in the next year.

the rest of my life:
i try to find joy in small things and laugh a lot. i am fascinated by all the ways that people express themselves – art, music, blogs, and especially karaoke. . . .
i spend a few days each week with my beautiful little boy – he teaches me a lot about patience, love, and laughing. we make art together, read books, listen to great music, run and jump, and play with toys.  it is an amazing gift to have him in my life.
i love to eat. i love wine. i love to cook. i am always looking for new things to try, burning stuff in my kitchen and happily starting all over again.