An Open Letter to the Republican Party:

Some lessons, unfortunately, are learned the hard way. If the Republican Party has any hope of succeeding in 2016, then we desperately need a public image overhaul. The stereotype of a wealthy white man who is out of touch with middle-class society is outmoded and must change. Many Republicans are persons of color, young parents, college students and women.

I am in my late 30s, a mother of five who not only works full-time, but is mere semesters away from completing a doctorate. And, oh, by the way, my husband is currently overseas on his third military deployment. You might see that I have five children and judge me or otherwise make assumptions about what you think my life is like, but you have no idea. You don’t know my family’s backstory, and you certainly don’t know what I’m capable of accomplishing. I am no one’s trophy wife. I am a leader, in my own right.

The Republican Party must not only acknowledge but also welcome women into leadership. It should no longer be the exception for a woman to run for public office, and those already in office must stop making the type of off-the-cuff, asinine remarks that offend the very women they claim to support. It should go without saying that the 2016 ticket absolutely must have a woman on the team.

Your fellow Republicans also include small business owners, white- and blue-collar workers, members of the military and people earnestly seeking gainful employment. Many of us are gravely concerned about the deplorable state of our nation’s economy and the very real risks to national security that go undiscussed in mainstream media.

Republicans must also take the lead on changing the face of government. If an elected official has served more than a couple of terms, then they should consider stepping down voluntarily to pave the way for new faces with fresh ideas. Stop talking about how much things need to change while making a career out of being a politician.

This election season has been a difficult lesson for the Republican Party to endure, but it is also an opportunity to reevaluate ourselves and our strategy, going forward. And go forward, we must.

I read a quote attributed to Marsha Norman that said: “Dreams are illustrations from the book your soul is writing about you.”

If that’s true, then my book is going to be an action-thriller, b/c most of my dreams (the ones I remember, at least) have to do with fleeing adversaries (I swim-fly through the air, & if it’s a hot pursuit, then I flip over to backstroke for speed) or fighting adversaries (in which case, I can perform Matrix-like moves to be victorious every time). Hmm … perhaps I’m just a wee bit stressed?

I haven’t thought about a poem to write today, but there are several things over which I’ve been musing the past few days. I’ve shared a bit previously about how I don’t feel like I have much liberty to complain/vent — even here, because there are too many factors that could come back to bite me in the booty, if I did.

I’ve also shared some frustrations about the apparent stagnation of my career and how I’m trying to reconcile those concerns with a genuine sense of appreciation for not only having a job, but even one with excellent benefits.

To be honest, I’m still trying to figure out that balance. An experience that I had last week seemed to reiterate what I have suspected for some time about the way internal hirings transpire, and the whole ordeal has left me feeling very frustrated. Even though I have previous experience in program development, budget management, volunteer training, career advising, public speaking and a slew of other skills (not to mention my current pursuit of a doctorate), none of it seems to matter, because here I am a grantwriter. Even though positions may come open for which I am well qualified, there are others at my level of the totem pole across campus who already work in those divisions who will get first dibs on the promotion.

I have locked myself in — quite literally, it would seem — to one function within one department within one division on campus. My staff of three have been “repurposed” to other roles within the division. I am a Director who supervises no one. If that isn’t supposed to make me concerned about the stability of my job, then I don’t know what it’s supposed to make me feel. People all around me — people I respect and admire as mentors — have fled left willingly, not so willingly or stayed and faced repurposing — even demotion.

Annual performance reviews are coming up, and although they’re never my favorite task (from either side of the desk), I have never dreaded one so much as I do this one. I have exceeded the fiscal year expectations for my department, despite the reduction in personnel, yet there is still the prevailing sense that whatever you do isn’t good enough.

There’s the type of burned-out feeling that is like a piece of bread left in the toaster a bit too long. You can add a little butter & jelly and mask the crispy parts. Then, there’s another type of burn-out that is like the drippings in an oven that smoke and smell bad every time you bake a pizza … and the only way to get rid of it is to scrape it out and throw it away.

I’m feeling a bit like a pizza these days.

Hawkeye, Hulk and more:
saving the world from itself —
we need unity.

The boys and I went to see The Avengers this weekend, and it was fantastic! I was impressed that all of the superheroes had relatively equal screen time, and they each played an important role in the outcome of the story. It wasn’t *just* an Iron Man show or a tale about Captain America; instead, the group of misfits (for lack of a better term) had to learn to work together and overcome their personal vendettas in order to ensure survival.

I am in the middle of a light-hearted suspense novel by Julie Anne Lindsey: Death By Chocolate. I had the opportunity to chime in as an advance reader on her debut novella, Bloom, which was a lot of fun. I’m proud of what this gal has accomplished, and she inspires me to stick with creative writing … in my spare time, ha!

Death By Chocolate takes the reader on a raucous adventure through Ruby Russell’s comedy of errors. Unfortunately, her poor choices keep leading to the untimely demise of innocent by-standers with a sweet tooth. Ruby is not a character to whom I have warmed up easily, because she is rather conniving and self-centered. I’m looking forward to finishing the tale, though, and I feel pretty confident that things will work out, in the end. At the very least, she could take over supervision of the mess hall in prison! :p

I got nuthin’ muse-worthy for you today, except to share that I’ve been at work for nearly two hours and have already had four meetings. Oh, and “Manic Monday” from The Bangles is stuck in my head.

Now, it is also stuck in yours. You’re welcome. 🙂

Have a blessed week!

Since a picture is worth 1,000 words (so they say), I thought I’d share with you today about two photo sites that I’ve recently explored. The first is Flickr, which I’ve enjoyed using to browse pictures from my husb’s Army unit that they post. The second is Pinterest, which I’ve been watching for months but finally caved and joined yesterday.

I already post a lot of photos on Facebook (and some here), so I’m not sure what the advantage is of also posting them on Flickr, but I’m open to suggestions.

As for Pinterest, I can see that there are a lot of neat ideas for projects around the house, tips for kids and good ol’ humorous content. I tested a few new posts by “pinning” some of my Foodie Friday blog entries. One thing I did realize is that many of my blog posts are text-only. If I’m going to link to Pinterest, I’ll have to include more photos.

I’m still pretty new to both sites, so I’m curious about a) whether or not y’all use either of them, and b) what you think of them.

I had the opportunity to attend the Texas Women in Higher Education (TWHE) conference last week. I always feel encouraged and motivated when I hear TWHE speakers and have the chance to meet female colleagues in other colleges and universities. There were young women, older women and women around my age in similar and vastly different phases of life. We came from 2-year and 4-year colleges, universities and medical schools. It was refreshing to connect with peers from around the state.

Even though it was encouraging to attend the conference, I still feel awkward sometimes – even around other women – because of my personal situation and family dynamic. I feel like a mold breaker, and I am … I have vented before about the “unspoken taboo” of having more than two children while pursuing a career in academia. Another mold that I’m in the process of cracking open is the percentage of community college students who go on to earn doctorate degrees.

I read an article in the past year that placed the figure at two percent, but in the course of trying to locate that same statistic, I came across another one that said one in five (20%) of doctorate recipients in 2009-10 attended a community college, at some point. That’s more encouraging, but it’s still a category that I’d like to bust open.

With those goals in mind, here’s my poem (nonet style) for this week:

What am I? I am a mold breaker
I cannot be put in a box —
An achiever, a leader
Limits stretch and expand —
I am capable
I have bold dreams
Nothing will
Hold me
Back

I didn’t write a poem for you today, but I thought I’d share some musings that have been on my mind. The year I started working at Baylor, the Lady Bears began a dynamite basketball season that would result in their claiming the National Championship title the following spring. It was a thrilling time; the whole university rallied around the team!

Tomorrow night, the Lady Bears have the chance to not only reclaim the National Championship title against Notre Dame, but if when they win, then they will be the only team in NCAA history – men or women! – to go 40-0.

It’s good to be a Bear.