2004-07-21 - 4:07 p.m. a chance meetup My former employee Kristi, dropped me an email on Monday to let me know she was in town for a few weeks, and had picked up some work at our former employer. She just completed her Journalism MA in Missouri, after spending her final semester in Johannesburg working for a paper there. She's going back to South Africa at the end of this month to pursue freelance writing about the AIDS epidemic. I should note that Kristi had reported to me at our former employer. She and our graphic designer and I made a really good team, and really kicked butt. However, it was always very clear that her heart wasn't in marketing. The only projects that brought her to life were writing projects. I tried to find as many excuses as possible for her to interview members and write articles, but it fundamentally wasn't a writing job. Once I left, and other things in her life changed, she packed up and moved away to go to journalism school. And it's the best decision she could have ever made. Of course, as her boss, I had to walk the tightrope of encouraging her to grow within her position while also wanting her to take the leap and pursue her passion. Of course, we started in talking about the likelihood of 4 more years of Bush (we agreed we are both scared that's exactly what we'll get thanks to voter apathy, potential election date moving by the current administration, and to a lesser extent Nader's infuence), which allowed me to share this little tidbit from the August Harper's Index: Chance that a member of New York's Army National Guard was in Iraq in June: 1 in 4 Chance that a member of Texas' Army National Guard was: 1in 31 Anyhow, it was great to reconnect with her, and hear about her pursuit of her passion. We've both committed to doing a better job staying in touch. I am trying to form alliances and friendships with as many people doing that (especially self-employed creative types). Having the ability to share experiences and resources with other people who are also trying to follow the path I'm on is inspirational, and helps keep me on track. P.S. I should also note that I finally have some ammunition for my ongoing campaign for the promotion of why organic strawberries are better. any comments? (0 so far) previous - next recently on almostgoldsf... in defense of an email box I came to do battle with SPAM - 2008-05-17 hello 2006 - 2005-12-31 Happy Thanksgiving - 2005-11-14 bon voyage - 2005-11-05 October already? - 2005-10-09