Update: Elk Fire, Dayton Wyoming

We were driving to Yellowstone and were diverted to Billings, MT because of the Elk Fire, which started September 27.

Donna KaBigelow, U.S. Forest Service, Sheridan Wyoming

We met Donna and her team at the U.S. Forest Service. She and her colleague, Daniel Clausson, were kind enough to give us an update on the fire.

Tongue River, Wyoming
Route 14, Tongue River, Wyoming

To learn more about the Elk Fire, please visit U.S. Forest Service, Bighorn National Forest for updates.

9/11 Personal Evacuation Kit

After the 9/11 attacks, we were given by our employer, Scudder Investments, now Deutsche Bank, a personal evacuation kit.

The months after the attack, many of us working in NYC office buildings thought another attack was imminent. I felt a bit safer with my personal evacuation kit. With my trusty kit under my arm, I would get out of a burning building unscathed.

Twenty three years later, I still keep my kit next to my desk at work. Fortunately, I have never needed it.

Yesterday I finally opened it.

It’s funny what we think will keep us safe.

Morning Meditation

Before I dashed to work one morning I was astonished at the beauty I almost missed, had I not slowed down and looked and listened to the awe of now.

Ancram, NY taken with iPhone with no retouching

First-Generation NYC Students Develop Business Skills to Help Harlem Business Owners

In a time when anti-immigration rhetoric is scaling new heights in the US and the EU, there is a bright spot in the U.S. migration story. A New York City pilot program teaches first-generation high school students financial literacy and entrepreneurship. It is a win for all communities involved.

First-Generation Entrepreneurs Trailer
Continue reading “First-Generation NYC Students Develop Business Skills to Help Harlem Business Owners”

Ski Butternut Celebrates 60 Years of Delighting Families

More than 40 ski and snowboard instructors braved the frigid New England evening temperatures to participate in the 60th anniversary celebration of Ski Butternut, Great Barrington, MA.

Torchlight Parade and Fireworks Cap the Ski Butternut Celebration

As one of the many part-time ski instructors, waiting for nightfall was a bit of a heavy lift after teaching all day on one of the coldest weekends of the year. But once we lit the torches and started skiing down the mountain together, it was a thrilling reminder on how great it is to be part of such a dynamic community doing what we all love to do: ski.

Spotlight: Chateau Suau Leads Bordeaux’s Organic Reign

Full disclosure: My cousin Tom is married to Monique Bonnet, the founder of Chateau Suau.

Monique is one of the few successful woman leaders working in wine in Bordeaux. She has been running the family vineyard since the 1980’s.

Around 2007, she noticed her workers were developing rashes, runny eyes, and other symptoms. After a few conversations she learned they were impacted by the pesticides that treat the grapes. Most vineyards still use toxic pesticides today. She said, “That’s it. We are going organic.” At a huge cost, they lost almost three years of production to convert their more than 150 acres into an organic vineyard.

Continue reading “Spotlight: Chateau Suau Leads Bordeaux’s Organic Reign”

Is The Women’s Hijab Iran’s Berlin Wall?

We were traveling in Iran, 2014. We were in the designated world heritage’s Naqsh-e Jahan Square in Esfahan. I met a group of young travelers. As you can see from this short video, it was a robust and ebullient group. Suddenly a woman shrouded in black, with her four male colleagues, tapped on one of the woman’s shoulder instructing her to correct her headscarf. She had too much hair exposed. In less than three seconds the woman shut down from an urbane cosmopolitan to a mix of shame, frustration, rage, resignation and protective humor.

Continue reading “Is The Women’s Hijab Iran’s Berlin Wall?”

From the PEN Archive: Salman Rushdie and Writers on the Selfie, Fatwa, Freedom of Expression and More.

Writers, Orhan Pamuk, Margaret Atwood and Salman Rushdie taking selfies, pre-iPhone with Pamuk’s new camera. PEN World Voices, Cooper Union, New York City, 2007.

Selfies before the iPhone with Salman Rushdie, Orhan Pamuk and Margaret Atwood, Cooper Union, NYC, 2007.
Continue reading “From the PEN Archive: Salman Rushdie and Writers on the Selfie, Fatwa, Freedom of Expression and More.”