Toys in the Cereal Box

service to the community???

so i got up extra early this morning and left my downtown apartment in the rain donning chuck taylors and denim, to head to a united way funded daycare center in harlem to volunteer with some folks from my company. not only was the crew primarily white, but even absent that fact, we couldn’t have been any more out of place. it was hilarious and embarrassing all at the same time. here come the downtown bankers, “dressed down” carrying longchamps bags and wearing gucci horse bit loafers, to harlem to come play with a few poor kids for a couple of hours. it was so painfully contrived and moderately shameful. i cannot decide if these kinds of activities actually reinforce how fortunate we are and how important it is to give back, or if they just make people feel better about themselves for a few hours and then forget about kids who live in the projects and whose chances of achieving even modest success have already been severely hampered by the circumstances into which they were born.

i find it both frustrating and disgusting that so many kids start life out already screwed. i struggle with the fact that they will never know the kind of opportunities that even as a less than priviliged child, i always had afforded to me. if nothing else, a sense of safety and security in my home community. i certainly don’t feel any better about myself and the only positive feeling i was left with was a deep sense of respect i have for the teachers and other direct care providers who serve as surrogate parents for these children.

i left confident of one thing, i am certain that the educators are underappreciated and underpaid and even though i’m not sure it has the greatest possible impact, i will continue to give a percentage of my salary to the united way, because at the end of the day, doing something is better than doing nothing at all.

and god knows, i’m not about to become one of those teachers as three hours with the kids was enough to make me so tired i’m nearly comatose so for now, they will have to settle for my cash.

Now is the time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide every child a world class education, because it will take nothing less to compete in the global economy.-President Barack Obama, DNC August 28 2008

How are we going to do that?

Political Legend

“We know that the future will outlast all of us, but I believe all of us will live on in the future we make.” -Edward Moore Kennedy

Since everyone else blogged about this yesterday, I’m going to blog about it today. I do whatever I can to be special.

My first meeting with the senior senator from Massachusetts was actually on my own turf in the suburbs of New York at an event where he was honored with an award in the name of another political legend, FDR. As promised, the senator was larger than life and had that accent you only get from the bay state, and that red nose you only get from drinking too much on one too many occasions. That day we actually bonded over the wine served at the event. I was sixteen at the time, but I was served and I remember thinking it was quite delightful. I was simply beside myself, a day off from school, strawberry shortcake, and wine with Senator Kennedy. I could not yet drive, but I considered myself to be a pretty big deal, and after my over-eager father arrived to pick me up (complete with windbreaker and fanny pack, yes it was a formal affair) the senator was more than pleased to take a photo with him. That photo sits on my father’s dresser today.

A few years later, after spending time serving at the Institute of Politics he helped establish at the Kennedy School of Government, and of equal importance making out with boys at the final club he belonged to while at Harvard, I managed to weasel my way into a summer internship with his economic development office on capitol hill. I had never taken an economics course and I am not from MA, but I knew that was where I belonged. I quickly realized it would be a fun and interesting summer, as my first day at work started with my boss arriving late, with busted glasses and a black eye, mumbling something about a fight in a bar in Adams Morgan. I didn’t yet know the guy, and again, I still could not legally drink, but that got me pretty stoked for my summer in DC. I learned how to get around quickly because even when you’re a big deal senator, when the other party is in power your offices get spread out across the three buildings that compose the capital office complex, so that your life is made as hellish and difficult as possible. When I worked there the senator had a physical inbox called “the bag” aka documents that were of timely and oftentimes sensitive nature that went into his briefcase. Items for “the bag” were only given to people who were deemed responsible and could move quickly; luckily I had long legs and at least the appearance of trustworthiness. I can remember working on an economic policy brief then being told it needed to be in the “bag” NOW. I don’t think I’ve ever moved so quickly in a pencil skirt and high heels, and by the time I returned to my desk, I watched him on C-SPAN presenting the brief on the senate floor. That was when I learned what “timely” actually meant.

I will always find something very appealing about those who are born into great fortune, yet make it their responsibility to serve the less fortunate. Little was expected of Teddy and his life may have been marred by reckless behavior, but he clearly believed in doing good and having a good time so obviously a man worthy of my respect. I consider it a great fortune to have had the opportunity to play a the tiniest role in supporting his many efforts to help others over the years.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/us/politics/27kennedy.html

barack and ted