14 Jul, 2008
baseball baseball management bootstraps digs on nationals management good homeless money in baseball nationals street sense wash washington
Please don’t tell me if Street Sense, the Washington D.C. based paper for and by the city’s homeless, has a downside, a seedy uncurrent, a mismanaged office. I don’t want to know. Because I love it.
I love the home-grown nature of it, the pull-yourself up by your bootstraps nature of it, and, frankly, the fine writing! Check out this April’s fools’ day post, slamming on -gasp – our nation’s finest baseball team, management, and sense of “giving back.” :
Opening Day has taken on new meaning in the nation’s capital this year as the Washington Nationals are opening the doors of
their new southeast D.C. stadium to the
city’s homeless population for overnight
stays throughout the season.
Under the “Open Door Policy” unveiled
on April Fool’s Day by Team President Stan
Kasten, the homeless are invited to sleep in
stadium seats or on the concourse at Nationals
Park but must stay off of the field,
a compromise brokered by Head Groundskeeper
Doug Lopas, who stressed the need
to protect the stadium’s new turf.
“This generous plan will keep displaced
residents from having to leave the city in
a futile search for low-income housing options,”
said Barbara Silva, the Nationals director of community relations. “the impression that economic progress depressed regions has a detrimental effect on
the poor.”
Wow. The article goes on to quote fans, players, and other afficiniados of the new “sleepover day.”
13 Jul, 2008
balance club dc employer fairness family family friendly federal life mommy mommy track parenting single unfair wash washington work work-life balance
The Mommy-track post, or as Maggie Dammit would say, the post in which I lose several readers (in a fiery rage? she didn’t say that part). Anywho, back to my point, which was… am I evil for resenting a “New Parent Community of Practice” recently (heh) spawned at work? Don’t answer yet. Let me explain.
I. Let’s say one works at a federal government agency. Let’s say said anonymous Place of Employment offers flextime, telecommuting, maternity leave, paternity l
eave, on-site (good) day care, part-time schedules, family-friendly sick leave, use of sick leave and annual leave towards extended maternity/paternity leave, etc.
Photo by N. Farnsworth as printed on Flickr.
II. Let’s further say Place of Employment is a place where work is analytical and done in teams in a Read the rest of this entry »
1 Jul, 2008
arlington arrogance battle boy bush challenge cheney court house frat boys funny lawyers McClellan metro new carrolton office officemates oh YEAH one-upmansship orange line outdo overheard politics roomates scoff show off social poser summer internship wash wash washington work
Yes, this is an actual conversation I heard on the Orange Line towards New Carrolton. Ah, Washington in the summer… bring on the interns and the summer associates. Some towns have sports talk. We have this (transcribed as closely as I could write on the back of an Express newspaper from my nearby seat)
Obvious summer associate 1 (let’s call him L1): The Harvard girl… how old is she?
L2 (yep, another one. I know, in DC. What are the odds?): 30 something.
—LONG PAUSE WHILE L1 AND L2 PONDER HOW OLD HARVARD GIRL IS. IT ALMOST DEFIES EXPLANATION! —
L2: She took some time off. [me and L1, thinking, “ahh. that explains it.”
L2: To work for the Cheneys.
L1: What??
L2: She took some time off, to work for the Cheneys.
L1 (and me): !
L2 repeats again.
L1: Really?
L2: Yes. On a Project.
L1: (smirking) which was…. Read the rest of this entry »
