What does kindness look like when you treat it as serious business?
Amanda Fornal was on a panel at SXSW when someone asked her a simple question: what gets you up in the morning? “To do good,” she said, and then she said the rest of it out loud. A few days earlier she had heard a venture capitalist argue that the smart money goes to sociopathic founders, not kind ones. It did not sit right with her logically or emotionally. So on that stage she said, “I’m kind, and I’m proud of it. If you don’t want to invest in kindness, that’s on you.”
What Does Kindness Look Like When We Leave Our Assumptions at the Door?
On October 16, 2016, Mickey Z. started walking the streets of New York City with food, supplies, and gift cards to hand to homeless women. He noticed something first: homeless men will often walk right up and ask for a dollar, while women, already pushed to the margins, tend to sit quietly with a sign and wait. Those women became his teachers. They told him what they needed, what size to buy, what actually helped. Nearly ten years later, Cheerful Giver NYC has grown into a seven days a week mission serving anyone who asks, and Mickey has stopped calling it a project. He calls it a calling.
The day I stopped drinking
Hope. Someone here needs hope. So … here we go. Ten years ago today I drank my last rum & coke. Ten years ago tomorrow I woke up sicker than a dog, feeling confused about what had happened the night before, but certain I had angered a whole lot of people. I was humiliated by
Spark a new dream
I got to do something really cool yesterday. I got to sit down with a friend and see the kids’ chapter book she’s spent the last year putting together. Then I got to help her brainstorm ways to get that book published. It’s like being part of someone’s childbirth. It’s messy and complicated and there
Take the tools out of the shed
I have never seen so many chill teenagers and nervous adults in my life. I made a snap decision to make my way from Aberdeen, South Dakota to Louisville, Kentucky because my daughter was one of six finalists for the National Speech and Debate Student of the Year. Considering it’s whittled down from like 100,000
Be like Alaina
Today I’ve decided to become more like Alaina. Don’t know Alaina? Take my word for it, she’s awesome. I mean, she had a UNICORN at her birthday party, how awesome is that?! The girl has style. Alaina is seven and a few weeks ago she graduated from first grade. First grade was a pretty big
Habit forming words
I’ve got a project staring me in the face. Do you have any of those? Maybe it’s a closet that needs reorganizing or a deck that needs to be stained or a pile of garbage that needs to be cleared away. Every time you look at them, they are asking you to pay attention to
