I typically spend the first four or five months of a new year renting and watching Academy Award-nominated films. Maybe it’s where we live or maybe I’m just not quick enough on the draw, but I never manage to see many of them prior to the awards ceremony. This weekend I watched The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, based on the French memoir Le Scaphandre et le Papillon.

I pretty much decided that I needed to see this movie when Julian Schnabel beat out the Coen brothers, Ridley Scott and Tim Burton for the Best Director Golden Globe. When I started watching it, I thought first that it was really weird. But as the story unfolded and I realized what was going on, it started to seem pretty freaking amazing. Then it made my eyes hurt and I had to go take out my contacts. Read the rest of this entry »

A couple weeks ago I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the Annual Tribute Luncheon of the Women’s Foundation of Greater Memphis. The keynote speaker was the beautiful and talented Gloria Reuben, she of classic “ER” fame. (And I just want to say, if the celebrities you meet aren’t SO much more beautiful in person than they are on TV, then you’re meeting the wrong celebs.)

She talked about her life and her career and how she found her way. It was very inspiring. Which I’m guessing is the objective of a keynote speaker. Luck favors the prepared, she said, and she talked about how she used prayer, visualization and journaling her soul’s desire. “Your soul’s purpose will find it’s way to you if you’re open and you listen and you take the call.” Today she asks herself, “Did I choose this? Or did it choose me?”

In my 20s, I gave little thought to the future or to my purpose in life. I enjoyed friends, griped about my job and just tried to get out of school so I could start my “real” life. In my 30s, I worked hard to get ahead in my career, started a family and began to accumulate material goods. Now in my 40s, I find myself changing jobs and questioning what it is I really want. And how to find it. And how DO you find it if you don’t know what it is? The Bible says, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”

What sort of tools do you use to chart your course?

Not too long ago, I was talking to a friend about how our standard of living is so much higher than our parents. I mean, there’s the obvious: My house is bigger and newer than anything my parents ever had in their lifetime, and they never owned two cars until they divorced.

But then, the more I thought about it, the more I started to realize just how different life is for my family now than it was for my family of origin.

I mean, we weren’t poor. My dad worked for the Federal Government and we lived in suburban Virgina. We were “Middle Class.” And my dad cut the lawn with a push mower. Not the gas or even the electric kind. The kind you PUSHED to make the blades spin around and cut the grass.

Is the Middle Class disappearing? The way I grew up seemed to be the norm back then, but I don’t know anyone who lives that way now.

After the jump…my comparison of Then and Now

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My heart hurts this morning, and not because it turns out that free throws really matter. What I’m really sad about is that these kids, these Tiger basketball players, might think they’ve disappointed us. What they — and their wild-man coach, John Calipari — have done for this city in just a few short months is nothing less than remarkable. EVERYONE is a Tiger fan, old, young, black, white, Asian, Midtown, Southwind, everyone. And that’s a feeling I’d like to hold onto for more than just a few days. I know the national media have dissed us repeatedly, but it’s really up to us now. Can we keep talking to each other, even if not about the Tigers? Can we stay friends, focused on a similar goal? Maybe we should declare that a blue UofM flag on your car is a sign that you care about more than basketball. That you care about Memphis.

We love you, Joey, Chris, Derrick, Coach … Go Tigers.

I found myself telling someone recently that if I could, I would pack it all in, quit my job buy a beach house (or a cottage in the French countryside) and make a living as a writer. Not sure what I’d write exactly or even where my teenager would go to school but details are neither here nor there in this scenario. The point is Dream Life: What Does It Look Like?

Or, dialing down a bit, let’s just go with Dream Job. A rich benefactor has just emailed you to let you know that you can quit your job tomorrow and open your own business doing anything you like. Money’s no object. What’s your business? Where’s your shop located? What does it look like? How will you spend your days? Will you work alone or hire a team of sycophants? Who’s your ideal client? How will you get her business? Better yet, how will you handle bitchy customers? Dream big! My business plan after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »