Not how I planned to become famous but oh well, I guess?
I have somehow landed myself in the middle of a good news story that’s already been published in one online paper, with serious interest from CBC (Canada’s BBC/NPR) — for their web, radio AND TV — as well as the Toronto Star (the most leftie* of our Canadian national newspapers, and therefore the one I read).
This has all happened because of a whim I had a few weeks ago. It is kind of delightful and honestly the news we need in These Times — partly because DEAR GOD THE REST IS GRIM, and partly because it is showing the power of community, which is the only thing likely to save us**. Here’s the story:
A couple of weeks before Christmas, I go down the weird secret corridor in my local mall…
How to sneak in your agenda when you’re given a platform (as a speaker or anything else)
It’s last Monday at 8am. I step out of the elevator and, as my feet hit the carpet, my heart is suddenly pounding and my breathing is short.
As I notice what’s happening in my body, I think, INTERESTING.
This week, I got to do one of my FAVOURITE things:
GOING ON THE RADIO. In this case, CBC Radio 1 (for non-Canadians: this is our National Public Radio’s speech station, and the one I listen to every morning of my life). I was a guest on the breakfast show, Metro Morning with David Common. Going on the radio is one of my favourite things for two reasons:
1) my first career was in radio, so stepping into a studio kicks up warm, familiar feelings
and
2) i *LOVE* playing at being famous.
Like, I think being ACTUAL famous would be a kind of…
The Best Life-Hack I Know
Sitting in the circle of 30 people, I scanned their faces and tried to read them. My chest felt fizzy; a rampant mix that was equal parts excitement and utter terror.
I was in New York for a weekend workshop on coaching. It was directed at people like me at the time – those who only recently learned that coaching was even a thing – to give us some basics and help us decide whether or not we wanted to make a career out of it. I was excited because this felt like a job that had been invented for me; in one way or another, I’ve been coaching (for free) my entire life.
And I was terrified, because of all those people.
What if they realised I had no idea what I was doing? What if they thought I wasn’t cut out to be a coach? What if they knew I hadn’t had a proper job for months?
And, deep down, another question:
What if…
Black Lives Matter: What I have learned about what I should be doing
Sitting between my legs in the bath, my four year old niece was looking at me like I had three heads.
[In this blog, I share what I have learned that I must do – some things that never occured to me – if I want to fight racism]