DIligence: I took a nap in the editing room

Never Done: Shadow post

Sometimes I write shadow posts when the real thing I did was too personal for me or someone else to write about. So, I did something today for the first time that is too personal for me or someone else for me to write about. But, it was a very Mussar-like thing to do. Very much about balancing the needs of self and other. But enough about me ...

And then after that, I rode 15 miles on Pam's bike for the first time, with my feet clipped in to the pedals (not for the first time, but for the first time on a longish ride.) And I still haven't fallen over. But everyone says I will eventually.

And then after that, Brett and I knocked out a rough assembly of our video for Sandy Pope, and it's better than I feared and still has a long way to go, and in the middle of the work day, I was nodding off and trying desperately to stay awake, and I eventually just asked Brett if he minded if I would take a nap. He didn't mind -- he was assembling video clips, and while I could have been useful, I wasn't essential. And so for the first time ever, I napped in the middle of a work session with a colleague other than Josh. (It was great, by the way. I woke up completely revived, and ready to go.)

I think we all know that mid-day moment when we are just too tired to function. I think most people reach for caffeine, but I don't drink the stuff. Sometimes some raisins will give me a little boost, but not today. Today I was on the shut-eye train, and I knew that if I were at home, I would lie down and sleep for 20 minutes, and wake up refreshed. For maybe 10 minutes I was trying to follow what we were doing, and really doing a bad job. A bad job paying attention, and a bad job faking it too. Then it occurred to me that I was working with one of the most relaxed and flexible people I know, and I just asked him if I minded if I would fall asleep. I did feel a little guilty, but I also knew that staying awake wasn't exactly productive.

This weeks' mide (middah) is Diligence: Always find something to do. There's an exercise that goes along with this practice -- every hour for a week, stop what you are doing, and log how you spent the past hour. Then, use some kind of assessment -- it could be the Urgency Matrix from Stephen R. Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which Rabbi Alissa Wise recommends (and I really like) or it could be something else that is meaningful to you. I haven't actually done this logging exercise, but now I'm going to. If I'm really brave, I'll post my hourly log in this blog. But first, the thing I want to say about diligence, for all you hard-working, over-scheduled 21st century over-achievers, is that resting is doing something. Let me say that again. Resting is doing something. Sometimes the thing we need to find to do is just stop, and rest, and recover. And sometimes the thing we need to do is get off our asses and write that screenplay, or bake bread, or make that scary phone call, or go for a run. But sometimes, we need to rest. This morning I got up at 4 AM because I am going to go swim in the Hudson for the first time ever, and then I'm going to have brunch with Eric and Jessica (who I have never yet met) -- and after that, I am going to rest. Come on over if you want. I'll be on the couch.

I donated to WNYC

Never Done: I donated to WNYC

Don't get me wrong -- I've donated to public radio many times, but always in Maine, Massachusetts, or Oregon. This was the first time I put my money into a New York station. I think it's because I'm rarely in the car, and at home I can listen to internet public radio, so I listen out of state. But I was in the car, heading over to pick up Brett for a day of filming the Sandy Pope video, and I heard a snippet of a pledge drive, along with an enticing raffle for a trip to Paris. A trip to Paris! One lucky winner! That could be me, I thought. I could do the right thing AND get a trip to Paris!

So I called up and donated. I mean, I pay for other NYC news and entertainment sources: The New York Times, the New Yorker, New York Magazine -- so why do I feel like I shouldn't pay for New York City public radio? I think I know the answer. I think it's not that I don't think I should pay for it, because I do still donate to Maine Public Broadcasting Network. I think it's that I don't feel connected to the voices on the other end of the dial. The Maine broadcasters are like old friends to me. Kristian Foden-Vencil, AJ Higgins, Josie Huang, Jennifer Mitchell. I hear them talk, and I literally feel calmer, more rooted, and more connected. I also remember what it felt like when I first got out of college and moved up to Skowhegan, Maine -- in the middle of the winter -- into my first apartment all alone -- to take a job at Family Planning -- and I was lonely. Maine winter lonely. And you know who kept me company? Yes, you do. Maine Public Radio.

On the other hand, I'm afraid I can't actually name any of the WNYC reporters, and I can't call up their voices in my head. Partly it's that I listen to a lot less radio than I used to, and truth be told, I am no longer lonely. As we said, I don't drive the car very often anymore, and when I do I'm usually with someone, embarking on a long trip or going to work. And when I'm home, I'm usually writing, which isn't conducive to listening to the radio. But I do listen sometimes -- and like I said, when I do I tend to listen to MPBN.

So it looks like we have yet another example of me living in New York, but acting like I don't. I can't really think if we have a mide (middah) about living in the here and now, unless maybe it would be a reinterpretation of Order: All actions and possessions shall have a set place and time. The reinterpretation would be something about my own accurate sense of myself in an accurate place and time. I think that every step I take that acknowledges that I really do live here helps me not to pretend I don't. Also, winning a trip to Paris wouldn't hurt.

Lady Brother

Never Done: I started to Sandy Pope's campaign video for General President of the Teamsters Union

I've worked on and off with Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) for 10 years now, starting when I got to do creative organizing with them at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters convention in Vegas in 2001. TDU is the the rank and file reform movement within the Teamsters, made up of truck drivers, flight attendants, dock workers, warehouse workers, clerical workers -- every kind of Teamster -- who want to build a more powerful union.

What does this really mean? It means that these are the people working to save pensions, health insurance, and stop production harassment (harassing workers to work so fast that it becomes unsafe and untenable) -- through grassroots organizing, membership education, and by electing reformers into local and national leadership positions. Reformer Ron Carey served as President of the IBT from 1991 to 1997 -- the first Teamster General President to be elected by general membership. Reformer Tom Leedham ran three times for General President, coming very close to defeating Jimmy Hoffa Jr. more than once. And now, for the first time ever, a woman is running for Teamster General President: Sandy Pope. And Brett Blake and I are making her campaign video.

I am often struck by the mundanity of the tasks of even the most exciting projects. I'm making the campaign video for the first woman to ever run for General President of one of the most powerful unions in our country! And what does that entail? Waking up at 4:30 AM, putting tea in a thermos, printing up Google directions, making sure I have all my sound equipment and enough batteries, packing rain gear, shlepping equipment to the car, picking up a young camerawoman, driving to Long Island, stopping at Dunkin Donuts to pee, and eventually arriving at a huge parking lot of a UPS facility, where there is a inflatable rat squeezing the neck of a UPS worker. One of the men I interviewed said something to me like, "I don't have much to say. I'm just a common man." And I, shivering and sleepy, just said, "Aren't we all?" Because really, what's the difference between one person and another? We all, as they say, put our pants on one leg at a time.

We were all there because Sandy was stumping at a rally for Workers Memorial Day -- and it was our chance to film her speaking to a crowd of supporters. She's good. She used to be a truck driver and now she is the President of her local, so she knows what she's talking about. The Teamsters are a mixed bunch -- some of them the most thoughtful, brave, tough, and brilliant people I've ever known, and some of them more, well, let's just say, tough. It's extremely moving to see these guys -- and they are mostly, but not exclusively guys -- come out to support a woman to take the highest leadership in their union. And I am honored to be hired to help her.

The post should really end there, except that I have too many Teamsters stories to resist telling at least one. When I was at the IBT convention in 2001, a man (sorry, I forget who) addressed the crowd in the casino hall. He looked out at the room and started, "Brothers." Then, knowing that wasn't quite right, he looked around the room again before adding, "And ... lady brothers."

Oh how I wish I had the funding to make a documentary about Sandy's campaign. I would, of course, call it Lady Brother.