Life is
short. This can never be emphasized too often for me. Time
is a gift. To have the time to read a good book, write, work on a hobby, be
with family and friends, talk on the phone, visit an older person who may be
alone, spend time with a child who enjoys your company—all those things are
gifts, not only to others but to ourselves. Our souls grow and expand when we
nourish it in these ways, likewise our hearts. In the final analysis, it is not
how many hours we spent at work that will count when we are old. No one will
care when we are eighty years old that we worked sixty hour-weeks. No one will
remember that we did so. If you love your work, you are lucky, but I also think
that those who truly love their work
are also those who understand the work-life balance. They understand the blessings
that they have been given—they treasure those blessings and respect them. There
are many reasons to work overtime for years on end or to constantly tell others
that you are so busy at work that you didn’t have time to call or write or get
in touch. Sometimes it may just be about not wanting to go home—to an unhappy
home, to an empty apartment, or to the overwhelming quiet that will cause one
to reflect on one’s life and on what may be wrong with it. Sometimes
overworking is simply an excuse to not face up to the changes that need to be
made in our lives. Overwork is a panacea, and can be used as a drug to dull the
pain of an unlived life, or a life lived in the shadows or under a ‘bushel
basket’. Let’s make 2012 the year that we step out from under the bushel basket
and shine our light out to the world, the year when we show the world that we love
ourselves enough to share our time, talents, love and compassion, the year when
we make time for others. The world will be a better place for it.
Friday, December 30, 2011
The gift of time
Christmas is
the season of many gifts, but it is not the material gifts that matter most. What
matters most is the gift of time—making
time for others but also for ourselves--visiting good friends, picking up the
telephone to call friends and family, writing some Christmas cards—in a
nutshell, remembering and even prioritizing others, some of whom may be sad,
lonely, frustrated or just a bit down, and who may perk up a bit because you
got in touch with them. Christmas can make us feel a bit down sometimes;
especially when it seems as though everyone else around you is happy except you.
It is a family holiday, but if you have no family to speak of, or if you and
your family are estranged, what then? Where do you go if you are alone without
family? If friends don’t invite you to their homes, do you sit alone and wallow
in past memories that will only make you sadder? Do you force yourself to go
out and celebrate Christmas with other folks who are alone and perhaps lonely?
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
What others have written about Christmas
o
Christmas
waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more
beautiful. ~Norman Vincent Peale
o
He
who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree. ~Roy
L. Smith
o
I
have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time;
a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long
calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their
shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were
fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on
other journeys. ~Charles Dickens
o
Happy,
happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days;
that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth; that can transport
the sailor and the traveller, thousands of miles away, back to his own
fire-side and his quiet home! ~Charles Dickens, The Pickwick
Papers, 1836
o
There
has been only one Christmas - the rest are anniversaries. ~W.J. Cameron
o
Christmas
is a necessity. There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us
that we're here for something else besides ourselves. ~Eric Sevareid
o
Our
hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are
better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at
Christmas-time. ~Laura Ingalls Wilder
o
Christmas
is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial
flame of charity in the heart. ~Washington Irving
o
Gifts
of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry
Christmas. ~Peg Bracken
o
Instead
of being a time of unusual behavior, Christmas is perhaps the only time in the
year when people can obey their natural impulses and express their true
sentiments without feeling self-conscious and, perhaps, foolish.
Christmas, in short, is about the only chance a man has to be himself.
~Francis C. Farley
o
It
is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air. ~W.T. Ellis
o
For
centuries men have kept an appointment with Christmas. Christmas means
fellowship, feasting, giving and receiving, a time of good cheer, home.
~W.J. Ronald Tucker
o
I
sometimes think we expect too much of Christmas Day. We try to crowd into
it the long arrears of kindliness and humanity of the whole year. As for
me, I like to take my Christmas a little at a time, all through the year.
And thus I drift along into the holidays - let them overtake me unexpectedly -
waking up some fine morning and suddenly saying to myself: "Why,
this is Christmas Day!" ~David Grayson
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Christmas in Oslo
The Norwegian Opera House |
Downtown area near the waterfront |
Oslo waterfront |
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Christmas at the Mall (Sandvika Storsenter)
We were out shopping today for Christmas gifts at the largest mall in Scandinavia--Sandvika Storsenter. It is located to the west of Oslo and is a short drive from the city. It has a large wall aquarium, so I snapped a few shots of the fish, especially the ones who were curious about what was going on on my side of the glass that divided us. We were also in an electro-boutique--sells everything from computers to stoves to smoothie machines. Had to snap a few photos--I mean really--walls of ovens and washing machines! Norway is so different than when I moved here. It has everything now in the way of material goods, thanks to the wealth created by the oil money. Twenty-two years ago, you had only a few different types of stoves to choose from; now, you can't count the choices. Supermarkets--the same thing--it's hard to know what to buy sometimes. Abundance is the operative word--an abundance of everything.
It gets dark here early now, so by 3:30 pm, it is nighttime for all intents and purposes. So it was interesting to get some evening shots of all the Christmas lights and decorations. On the drive home to Oslo, we stopped at the harbor area so that I could take some photos of the Opera House and the surrounding area at night. I'll post some of those photos in a later post.
It gets dark here early now, so by 3:30 pm, it is nighttime for all intents and purposes. So it was interesting to get some evening shots of all the Christmas lights and decorations. On the drive home to Oslo, we stopped at the harbor area so that I could take some photos of the Opera House and the surrounding area at night. I'll post some of those photos in a later post.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Recognizing passive-aggressive behavior in workplace leaders
From time to time, I've decided I will present some excerpts from my book on passive-aggressive bosses in my blog posts. As I've mentioned previously, I've gotten a fair amount of feedback and comments on my book, which tells me that the problem of passive-aggressive bosses in the workplace is a fairly widespread problem. So why not share some of my views with you, and hopefully you will share yours with me and with others. The problem needs to be 'aired' in the workplace and talked about. My new question is the following: is this a managerial survival mechanism? Has the modern workplace become so complicated and confusing that these are the tactics that bosses must adopt in order to survive? If so, it speaks badly for the future of modern workplaces. Here is an excerpt from Chapter 1 of Blindsided--Recognizing and Dealing with Passive-Aggressive Leadership in the Workplace (these are just a few of the traits I have listed and discussed: http://www.amazon.com/Blindsided-Recognizing-Dealing-Passive-Aggressive-Leadership-Workplace/dp/1442159200/ref=tmm_pap_title_0).
How do you feel at the hands of a passive-aggressive
boss or co-worker? The word “blindsided”
comes to mind. The definition of blindside is “to hit unexpectedly from or as
if from the blind side; to surprise unpleasantly” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/
blindsided) . Thus blindsided describes how one might feel
when dealing with a passive-aggressive boss. How many times have you come away
from meetings or interactions with a boss or another co-worker, feeling as
though you have been hit by a car that came out of nowhere? You just didn’t see
it coming. How many times have you been the butt of a joke that isn’t funny or
the recipient of undeserved comments, sarcasm and put-downs, and how many times
have you wondered about the reason for this behavior? How many times have you
ended up feeling used, duped, stabbed in the back, or the victim of dishonest
behavior? How many times have you heard that same boss or co-worker describe
himself or herself as a nice person (translated--one
who tries to help others all the time, never says no to any request, tries to
avoid conflict at all costs, one who wants to be liked by all, is not
aggressive, never gets angry, is not tyrannical, is not verbally or physically
abusive) ?
A summary of some of the attitudes and behaviors that
characterize passive-aggressive bosses (or co-workers)
is presented in the next section. Using the traits and behaviors summarized here,
I hope it will become somewhat easier to identify what some might call fairly
typical behavior in the workplace as passive-aggressive behavior.
Attitudes/personality
traits and corresponding behaviors/patterns of behavior in passive-aggressive
leaders
1. Dishonest communicators
Communication with employees is not direct or honest
but rather indirect, dishonest, and ambiguous. Employees never get a clear
sense of what was discussed, what conclusion was reached, what is expected of
them, or what future strategy or plan was outlined. These types of bosses can
talk non-stop but little of what they communicate is useful for employees or
even remembered by the leaders themselves at future meetings. These leaders are
poor listeners and poor communicators. They behave in an indecisive and
impulsive manner, are forgetful, lack focus, and are unable to think long-term
or systematically. They lack the skills needed to create an organized and
rational plan of action for their employees.
2. Flip-floppers
These types of leaders say one thing and then do the
other. They change their minds frequently and cannot take a decisive stand on
an issue. They forget what was decided upon, which confuses and frustrates
those who prefer working with rational thinkers and leaders with the ability to
strategize and make long-term plans.
3. Conflict-avoiders
Passive-aggressive leaders dislike conflicts,
arguments, disagreements, overt shows of anger, or confrontations. They become
uncomfortable or embarrassed by shows of emotion, especially anger. It is
possible to recognize anger in them as their faces will redden when confronted
and when they are told things they do not like to hear, but otherwise they
rarely exhibit overt anger. They view themselves as diplomatic individuals, and
many of them have an obsessive need to be well-liked or seen as nice people.
They dislike being confronted or having their opinions challenged, but seldom
respond with overt anger. Instead they will ‘punish’ employees who initiate
discussions or debates (seen as conflicts or arguments) .
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Julebord season
The
Julebord season is upon us. Julebord is literally translated from Norwegian to
English as ‘Christmas table’, but it simply means Christmas party at least in
the way it is commonly used. Every year in Norway, starting in late November,
employees start to prepare for their annual Christmas parties. And they are not
few. Not only are there workplace Christmas parties, but also gutte-julebord or
jente-julebord, Christmas parties for just men or women, respectively. And if
you belong to any organization, e.g. a choir or a volunteer group, you can be sure that some type of party gets planned. Many of the
people I know will attend anywhere from three to four Christmas parties before
Christmas. For the most part, they take the form of sit-down dinners spread out
over three to four hours, with a lot of food and a lot of alcohol (at least in
the ‘old days’), interspersed with short speeches from company management or an
organization’s leaders. They are fairly formal affairs; men and women dress to
the nines, and most of the major chains of clothing stores advertise suits and
dresses for the Julebord.
When I first
started to work in Norway, the Christmas parties were often held
on site at the workplace, in the hospital library or basement, where there was
plenty of room to place a long dining table and chairs. Food was often catered
by the hospital cafeteria, and alcohol was available for purchase. But the
powers that be who arranged the parties often made their own aquavit from
aquavit essence blended with absolute alcohol adjusted to a certain percentage.
The alcohol was often ‘borrowed’ from the stock of absolute alcohol that the hospital
kept under lock and key in each department. My guess is that the leaders ‘saw
the other way’ when one or two bottles were removed from the stock, mostly
because they also wished to enjoy the aquavit that was made from it. In later
years the availability of alcohol was limited to one or two small bottles of
wine with dinner; if you wanted more than that to drink you had to buy it
yourself at the bar that was set up for the occasion, or bring it yourself. In
any case, the flow of alcohol was never a problem at any of these parties. I
have seen a lot of drunken people at Christmas parties here, including management and
employees alike. In fact, I have been rather surprised at the number of drunken
managers at these parties; it was almost as though they got a ‘free ticket’ out
of prison and they made the most of it. I have experienced several of them in
the ‘drunken edition’ over the years—unbelievably talkative, interested and
cloying for that one night of the year, and eventually annoying. The other
three hundred and sixty-four days they hardly knew you existed. You might be
lucky if they smiled at you in the hallways when you met them during your
workday. When they drank, they started to talk and unload about
everything that was on their minds, and I thought to myself—I’m really not
interested. Not interested in hearing about how your wife doesn’t understand
you (classic), or how your workplace doesn’t understand you, or how you miss
this or that in your life. Not my problem. After I went
home at what I considered an appropriate hour (between midnight and 1am), the
party was just getting started. People partied until dawn, and there was always
a lot of whispering and loose talk about what went on afterwards.
This all occurred in the mid-1990s; by the time we reached the year 2000 or so, our Christmas parties were often held at restaurants, with varying results. I can remember being stuffed into miniscule locales where you could barely stand up to go the ladies room or to go to the bar. I also remember one year (disastrous party) where we weren’t served food until close to 10 pm after having arrived at the restaurant at 7 pm. Not only were people raving drunk by 10 pm, but the food was served sporadically, which meant that some tables were finished with the first course while others were just being served it. I remember there was a guest scientist from the USA who was my table companion; at one point he turned to me and asked ‘When does the fun start?’ It kind of sums up about 70% of my Christmas party experiences in the twenty-two years I’ve been here. When does the fun start? He was right. Some of the parties have been stiflingly boring; I have a Norwegian colleague, a woman, and we more or less think alike about so many things. She and I have ‘livened’ up a few parties with our slightly anarchistic behavior. Do we regret it? No. What I can say is that our little corner of the table is often the liveliest—laughing, joking, pleasant conversation—all without a lot of alcohol. She has the same opinions as I do about public drunkenness. It is possible to have fun, even a lot of fun, without being piss-drunk. The Norwegians have a saying that they don’t trust people who don’t drink; I don’t trust people who do—especially the ones who never know when to stop. The few times when the parties have actually been fun were when they were held in large locales, like last year’s party. Food was served in one room (tapas table), which also had a formal bar where you could buy drinks or beer; the huge dining room was separate from this room and was at least comfortable to sit in.
This all occurred in the mid-1990s; by the time we reached the year 2000 or so, our Christmas parties were often held at restaurants, with varying results. I can remember being stuffed into miniscule locales where you could barely stand up to go the ladies room or to go to the bar. I also remember one year (disastrous party) where we weren’t served food until close to 10 pm after having arrived at the restaurant at 7 pm. Not only were people raving drunk by 10 pm, but the food was served sporadically, which meant that some tables were finished with the first course while others were just being served it. I remember there was a guest scientist from the USA who was my table companion; at one point he turned to me and asked ‘When does the fun start?’ It kind of sums up about 70% of my Christmas party experiences in the twenty-two years I’ve been here. When does the fun start? He was right. Some of the parties have been stiflingly boring; I have a Norwegian colleague, a woman, and we more or less think alike about so many things. She and I have ‘livened’ up a few parties with our slightly anarchistic behavior. Do we regret it? No. What I can say is that our little corner of the table is often the liveliest—laughing, joking, pleasant conversation—all without a lot of alcohol. She has the same opinions as I do about public drunkenness. It is possible to have fun, even a lot of fun, without being piss-drunk. The Norwegians have a saying that they don’t trust people who don’t drink; I don’t trust people who do—especially the ones who never know when to stop. The few times when the parties have actually been fun were when they were held in large locales, like last year’s party. Food was served in one room (tapas table), which also had a formal bar where you could buy drinks or beer; the huge dining room was separate from this room and was at least comfortable to sit in.
I have
considered not going to Christmas parties at all, and some years I have dropped
going to them. But the compromise now is that I leave at an appropriate time—more
or less right after dinner--before the inevitable stupid behavior starts. In
any case, the stupid behavior associated with too much alcohol is not
necessarily reserved for Norway. I remember my father telling me about the
Christmas parties at his workplace in Manhattan in the 1960s and 70s—the drunkenness,
the bad behavior, the screwing around—all of it. He had no use for it, and I thus
grew up with a father and a man that I could look up to and respect. I measure
so many men in my generation against the caliber of my father, and many of them
just don’t measure up. I actually think that many of the younger men I know
behave better and more respectfully toward their wives and women in general
than the men my age (middle-aged). Was my father perfect in every way? No. But
when it came to behaving in a moral way, yes, he was a good man. The Christmas
parties he talked about eventually went the way of many morally-questionable things—they
became obsolete, killed by their own excesses, by the ‘never knowing when to
stop’ mentality. I’ve heard that many corporations no longer have Christmas
parties in the USA as a result of bad behavior. I don’t know if this is still
the case, or how it’s done there anymore. All I know is that very little of this
stupidity has to do with the real meaning or spirit of Christmas. And in the
end, it’s the real meaning and spirit of Christmas that matters to me.
Friday, December 2, 2011
One more post for today--update on NaNoWriMo
Yes, I know, there have been a lot of posts from me today. Probably because the negativity and cynicism in my workplace challenges me to rise above them, and I do that by tapping into my creativity and writing myself free of what promises to drag me to hell. I promised I would keep you all updated on my progress with NaNoWriMo, or for those who have just started following A New Yorker in Oslo, the novel writing challenge called National Novel Writing Month. I didn't make it to 50,000 words by November 30th, but I did make it to 33,000 words (about 121 pages and counting). In other words, I'm getting there, and I will definitely finish my novel and publish it. Why? Because I think it's good. I will show it to a few other people before I do. What have I learned from it all? That it's fun to write. But that it's hard work too, especially when you get writer's block for a few days or when you sit and write for five hours at a time with no breaks. Writing can become obsessive, creative, frustrating, depressing (when you get it wrong), and exhilarating (when you get it right). And only you really 'know' the exact moment when you get it right. Little wonder that editors and authors develop such intimate relationships. I can only imagine one other person who might understand where I was when I was writing---and that would be an editor.
But what I learned about myself when writing my characters--that was the best of all. It's all true what published authors say--you get to know and like (or dislike) your characters. You get to know about the people who are buried deep within you. The characters you thought you would be able to write 'well' are the ones who end up disappearing into the woodwork, and the ones who emerge front and center are the characters who really live in your subconscious and who have been clamoring for a chance to climb out and test the waters. So I let them. They directed me in how to write them. Well, I had a few ideas of the situations I wanted to put them in, but I let them do the talking for me. And that seemed quite natural somehow.
Anyway, once I finish this novel, I will start on another, and also on a screenplay that I will be collaborating on with another woman. So we'll see where that takes us. One place it will take me intellectually and emotionally is far far away from the demoralized workplace I frequent each day. And thank God for that.
But what I learned about myself when writing my characters--that was the best of all. It's all true what published authors say--you get to know and like (or dislike) your characters. You get to know about the people who are buried deep within you. The characters you thought you would be able to write 'well' are the ones who end up disappearing into the woodwork, and the ones who emerge front and center are the characters who really live in your subconscious and who have been clamoring for a chance to climb out and test the waters. So I let them. They directed me in how to write them. Well, I had a few ideas of the situations I wanted to put them in, but I let them do the talking for me. And that seemed quite natural somehow.
Anyway, once I finish this novel, I will start on another, and also on a screenplay that I will be collaborating on with another woman. So we'll see where that takes us. One place it will take me intellectually and emotionally is far far away from the demoralized workplace I frequent each day. And thank God for that.
Two girls graffiti
Just thought I'd share a recent photo I took on one of my walks up along the Akerselva river. Normally all you see on abandoned buildings is scrawl and tagging. But this was art, and it's lovely. Zoom in to see the nuances in the colors used for the hair. Nice work. Too bad there can't be more graffiti like this.
What Ellen Glasgow said
Ellen Glasgow (1873 - 1945) was an American novelist from Virginia who wrote about
the changing world of the contemporary south, and these are some of her wise sayings.
·
All
change is not growth, as all movement is not forward.
·
Doesn't
all experience crumble in the end to mere literary material?
·
He
knows so little and knows it so fluently.
·
I
waited and worked, and watched the inferior exalted for nearly thirty years;
and when recognition came at last, it was too late to alter events, or to make
a difference in living.
·
Mediocrity
would always win by force of numbers, but it would win only more mediocrity.
·
No
idea is so antiquated that it was not once modern. No idea is so modern that it
will not someday be antiquated.
·
No
matter how vital experience might be while you lived it, no sooner was it ended
and dead than it became as lifeless as the piles of dry dust in a school
history book.
·
The
only difference between a rut and a grave are the dimensions.
·
Nothing
in life is so hard that you can't make it easier by the way you take it.
·
What
happens is not as important as how you react to what happens.
·
Nothing
is more consuming, or more illogical, than the desire for remembrance.
In these days before Christmas
Nothing works at work anymore. That’s just the sad truth—a fact
of life. And no matter how much the administrators and leaders want to paint a smiley face
on everything around us, the fact remains that no one below them much believes
in anything they say anymore. I often say that the only reason some things do
work at all is because employees generally are good people and want to do their
very best (den gode viljen—good will) with some few exceptions here
and there. In the twenty-two years I’ve worked here, my peers in the lab, the
students, the technicians and the secretaries—all of them have done their best
to make my workplace not only function, but be a nice place to work. Believe it
or not, it has all been done without much direct involvement from any leader over the
years. Why that was, I am not sure. Many of them felt ignored by the management over them and perhaps didn't care enough, but mostly I think it was the 'every man for himself' attitude, which is rampant in academic environments. You learn not to care too much about your potential competitors, and they can be your peers or your students. I think my present workplace is one of the few places that has functioned without much leadership over the years. At present, the extreme
opposite is the norm. We now have five levels of administrative leadership;
none of them know what the other level is doing and it makes for a very
confusing workday. But each of them want power and control, and each of them
want to control us. My situation is no different than many others I know;
conflicting messages time and again. I am encouraged to join one group in a
coordinator function to help out the department, but given no authority or no
personnel to help me in that task. We are moved around from here to there and
back again like pawns on a chess board. They say that our wishes are important to
them, but we all know that it sounds good
to say this; and more importantly, it can eventually be written in a report
that the employees' wishes have been taken into consideration. But they haven’t.
Because we haven’t wished for anything like this in our wildest dreams. And
unless you’ve experienced what it’s like to be told more or less to drop what
you’re doing now in order to do something else, and then in six months you get
another message telling you to drop that and go back to doing what you were
originally doing. I think this is a type of sickness; I’m just not sure what
kind of sickness. Is there a diagnosis for it? Egomania perhaps? Or perhaps insanity?
I cannot remember one time in all the years I have worked here that any leader has bought a cake, or champagne, or any other such thing to celebrate the ending of a work year, or Christmas, or grant funding for the institute, or just to thank employees. We pay for our own Christmas parties; I can recall possibly two after-Christmas parties in recent years that we didn’t pay for; those are no more. But of course when there are birthdays, or births of babies, or weddings or any other such thing—it is the employees who have baked cakes, bought presents and acknowledged the event in some way. And then the leaders show up—to eat cake. They were and are always there to eat cake. But buy one themselves for their workplace? In my group, we have never gotten a Christmas gift of any kind from our group leader. I used to give him one in previous years, but no more. He did comment once when he first stopped receiving anything from me, but that didn’t change my mind. He once commented that he never received a Christmas card from anyone; I asked him if he ever sent any, and he said no. So then I said that there was a great place to start—write some. We in the group however, have always exchanged presents. What a far cry from my lab at UCSF—where my boss not only gave his employees small Christmas presents, but Valentine’s day chocolates and a single-stemmed rose as well. He was (and still is) a thoughtful man. It made me realize that it was possible to be professional and thoughtful—a nice definition of emotional intelligence. My boss at Memorial was the same.
I cannot remember one time in all the years I have worked here that any leader has bought a cake, or champagne, or any other such thing to celebrate the ending of a work year, or Christmas, or grant funding for the institute, or just to thank employees. We pay for our own Christmas parties; I can recall possibly two after-Christmas parties in recent years that we didn’t pay for; those are no more. But of course when there are birthdays, or births of babies, or weddings or any other such thing—it is the employees who have baked cakes, bought presents and acknowledged the event in some way. And then the leaders show up—to eat cake. They were and are always there to eat cake. But buy one themselves for their workplace? In my group, we have never gotten a Christmas gift of any kind from our group leader. I used to give him one in previous years, but no more. He did comment once when he first stopped receiving anything from me, but that didn’t change my mind. He once commented that he never received a Christmas card from anyone; I asked him if he ever sent any, and he said no. So then I said that there was a great place to start—write some. We in the group however, have always exchanged presents. What a far cry from my lab at UCSF—where my boss not only gave his employees small Christmas presents, but Valentine’s day chocolates and a single-stemmed rose as well. He was (and still is) a thoughtful man. It made me realize that it was possible to be professional and thoughtful—a nice definition of emotional intelligence. My boss at Memorial was the same.
Charles Dickens’ A
Christmas Carol comes to mind in these days before Christmas. Scrooge was
transformed from a miser in all respects to an emotionally-intelligent man
whose heart, like the Grinch's, grew in size in order to accommodate the immense
feelings of generosity that suddenly overtook it. He understood that before he
died, before his body rotted to nothing in the earth and was forgotten, that he
wanted to do some kind things for others. And he did. So it is never too late. My
fervent wish for my workplace is that the leaders are visited by ghosts from
the past, the present and future, and that they are shaken out of their miserly
prisons and personal hells, into some kind of warmth and emotional
intelligence, so that they can stop being scrooges in their daily lives. It
will be too late for them to undo what they have done to the current generation
of employees; but perhaps future employees will benefit from their generosity.
What they could do for their older employees is to at least apologize—that would
be a start. My fervent wish for myself is freedom, and maybe God will bless me
with that in the near future. I can hope. And that is what the Christmas season
is about—hope--in the age of
cynicism, egoism, me-ism, narcissism, and any other ‘ism’ that has destroyed
workplaces, good will, and the happiness associated with doing a good job.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
It is what it appears to be
The
Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten ran an interesting article this morning that I read
while eating breakfast, commenting on a few choice parts to my husband, who
reacted to the story more or less as I did. Here is the short summary of the
newspaper story--a female TV reporter named Live Nelvik decided to do a reality
program called ‘Dama til’, which means ‘Girlfriend of’—the point of the program
being that she would interview well-known men with different careers—politicians,
artists, celebrities, etc. and get them to talk about their lives and careers
with her as though she was their girlfriend. One of the men who said yes to being
on her program was Vebjørn Sand, the well-known artist. According to the
newspaper, he wanted his contribution to the program to be educational and part
of that entailed visiting his father, who is also a well-known artist. His
father’s interest in art had a big influence on his son, and they seem to have a
very good relationship. The TV reporter was invited home to Vebjørn’s father’s
house, who opened his home to her and her TV camera crew, served them food, and
showed them his studio. The article goes on to report that Sand’s father showed
her different art techniques and gave her a picture he had started on, that she
could work on further. She then picked up a crayon and wrote over the entire
image –"FUCK!" all the while filming was going on. She was very keen
that Sand’s father get her message clearly, so she turned to him and said,
"Look, I wrote 'fuck”. Nelvik by the way is 29 years old if anyone wondered; if I hadn't seen her age I would have thought this was the behavior of a bratty child trying to be the center of attention. Both father and son were very upset by her
behavior, and the recording ended there and then.
I’m not
writing this blog post in particular defense of Sand or his father; their
reactions were appropriate and they obviously know how to defend
themselves. I’m writing it because the entire story made me want to vomit. Why?
Because this type of TV program is crap, stupid
behavior is stupid, and rude behavior
is rude. Can’t put a pretty face on
crap, stupidity and rudeness. Nelvik was rude and crass and there is nothing
else to say, and if this is the new trend—to be ‘in your face’, rude and
idiotic to people in the name of TV entertainment, well, good luck to the future of cultured society. Sand
and his father reacted rather civilly, I have to say. Nelvik risks getting verbally
berated or worse in the future by a different kind of man if she continues in
this vein, one who doesn’t take kindly to watching his elderly father or mother
get mocked and personally attacked in the name of increased TV viewership, and one who doesn't care if the camera is filming his tirade (but of course this could be entertainment too--trying to provoke such episodes--so who knows. Actually, it's been done already--the Jerry Springer show--American crap TV). Because that's what this is all about--getting the ratings up at any cost. 'Se pÃ¥ meg' (look at me). I prefer Sand’s more civil
reaction to the entire episode, but one of these days, Nelvik may mock the
wrong person. And then it will be interesting to see if her TV crew continues
filming during the aftermath of her crassness. Good luck to you.
Friday, November 25, 2011
What John W. Gardner said
Who was
John W. Gardner? An intelligent, wise and forward-thinking man, who served as
the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare under President Lyndon Johnson.
I saw one of his quotes today posted on Twitter, and it struck me with its
wisdom. This was the quote—‘We are all faced with a series of great
opportunities - brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems’. I thought about
how this somehow sums up much of what is going on in society at present—if opportunities
really become nothing more than impenetrable problems, then all the talk about
changing the world for the better will be nothing more than hot air because we
will be defeated by the rampant pessimism that is ever present in trying to bring
about change in the world. If a society can say that its problems are insoluble,
then the individuals living in that society don’t have to step up to the plate
and take responsibility for changing things for the better. Fear of failure /
fear of success? Interesting words from an interesting man.
·
True
happiness involves the full use of one's power and talents.
·
Some
people strengthen the society just by being the kind of people they are.
·
Men of integrity, by their very existence,
rekindle the belief that as a people we can live above the level of moral
squalor. We need that belief; a cynical community is a corrupt community.
·
The cynic says, "One man can't do
anything." I say, "Only one man can do anything."
·
Excellence is doing ordinary things
extraordinarily well.
·
Some people have greatness thrust upon them.
Very few have excellence thrust upon them.
·
The idea for which this nation stands will not
survive if the highest goal free man can set themselves is an amiable
mediocrity. Excellence implies striving for the highest standards in every
phase of life.
·
America's
greatness has been the greatness of a free people who shared certain moral
commitments. Freedom without moral commitment is aimless and promptly
self-destructive.
·
The hallmark of our age is the tension between
aspirations and sluggish institutions.
·
The ultimate goal of the educational system is
to shift to the individual the burden of pursing his own education. This will
not be a widely shared pursuit until we get over our odd conviction that
education is what goes on in school buildings and nowhere else.
·
Much education today is monumentally
ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we
should be teaching them to grow their own plants.
·
One of the reasons people stop learning is that
they become less and less willing to risk failure.
·
It is hard to feel individually responsible with
respect to the invisible processes of a huge and distant government.
·
Life is the art of drawing without an eraser.
·
History never looks like history when you are
living through it.
·
Our problem is not to find better values but to
be faithful to those we profess.
·
The creative individual has the capacity to free
himself from the web of social pressures in which the rest of us are caught. He
is capable of questioning the assumptions that the rest of us accept.
Monday, November 21, 2011
America the Beautiful--lyrics
In honor of Thanksgiving, I'm posting the lyrics to this beautiful song that we've sung for many years and will continue to sing for many years to come.....
O
beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for halcyon skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!
O beautiful for pilgrims feet,
Whose stem impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through
wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!
O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man's avail
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for halcyon skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!
O beautiful for pilgrims feet,
Whose stem impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through
wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!
O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man's avail
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!
Words by Katharine Lee Bates,
Melody by Samuel Ward
Giving thanks
I have celebrated Thanksgiving each year since I moved to Norway, and each year I look
forward to celebrating the holiday. I never really get tired of preparing food
and inviting people to share it with us, although I must admit that at the end
of Thanksgiving Day I’m pretty exhausted. This year was no exception. I
normally invite family and/or friends to join us during the weekend after
Thanksgiving, as we are at work on Thanksgiving Day. This year was different; I
made Thanksgiving dinner today and invited family.
I am always
nervous each year that something will go wrong; that feeling that I will
suddenly become a completely inept hostess rears its head each year. But except
for the first year I was here, things have mostly never gone wrong. That year
was the year that the antique electric oven that my husband inherited from his parents
didn’t tolerate being opened too often to baste the turkey (the temperature
dropped dramatically each time the door was opened). Suffice it to say that it
took about nine hours before the turkey was done. Our guests were patient
though and they hung around, back in the days when people did hang around until
1 or 2 am (when we were younger and losing a good night’s sleep didn’t destroy
the following five days in terms of sleep and lack of energy). We bought a new
stove shortly after that. In the twenty-two years I’ve been here, the turkey has
turned out dry on two occasions. This year the corn bread didn’t rise as high
as it should have and I don’t know why, I couldn’t find cranberries in the supermarkets
or in the small neighborhood markets to make sauce (I used tyttebær instead and
that’s always a good substitute), and I almost couldn’t find a turkey. It seems
as though eating turkey has caught on here at Christmastime, which means that
turkeys will be available in mid-December. But as I explained to one
supermarket manager—I’m American--I need a turkey now! But I finally did find
one that was the right size after visits to a number of different supermarkets.
It turned out to be a very good turkey, not dry at all.
Thanksgiving,
for all its informality and joviality, is really a formal holiday, in the sense
of giving thanks on a national scale. I can remember attending mass when we
were children and singing ‘America the Beautiful’. The first stanza is
particularly beautiful and memorable:
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
It’s good
to be reminded that we ought to be grateful for all that is good in our lives. And
maybe sometimes even for what may not be good in our lives at present—unhappiness,
unfairness, losses, hurts. Because without the sadness that life deals out at
times, we might not be able to appreciate the happiness when it appears. We
need the contrast.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
From pimp my ride to pimp my research
I attended
another interesting event sponsored by the UiO Science library this morning, a
lecture about how to ‘pimp’ your research, followed by a really interesting
discussion about pimping of research in general—should it be pimped, how it
should be done, and who should be responsible for pimping. The scientist who
held the lecture and who guided the discussion afterwards was Gro Amdam, whom I’ve
mentioned before in a previous post. Professor Amdam is a Norwegian scientist
who runs two research labs, one at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences in
Aas Norway, the other at Arizona State University in the USA. She is a honeybee
researcher and a top scientist, with many publications in top international
journals; you can read more about her labs, work, publications and view her
journal covers here: http://amdamlab.asu.edu/. Some of the scientists I talked to
about this event when I was promoting it a few weeks ago were a bit skeptical;
perhaps mostly skeptical to the terminology—pimping. They weren’t sure what was
meant by pimping research, and instead of being curious enough to find out more
about it, they didn’t attend. They should have, because they missed a really
good and professional presentation about the subject and an interesting
discussion afterwards. Pimping is defined as ‘giving something a smarter or
more interesting appearance’; some excellent examples in my opinion are Amdam's journal
covers—beautiful photos of bees and flowers that add an important visual aspect
to the research work that was published inside the specific issue. She emphasized
that it was pimping the (high-quality) work that was important; this was not a talk about how
to pimp the scientist. But the scientist can become well-known because of the quality
of the work via good pimping—and that’s a good thing. It helps get research
grants, funding, and international recognition.
There was a
good deal of discussion about the cultural differences and approaches to
pimping between the USA and Norway. In the USA, research pimping is an accepted
and encouraged activity at universities; the idea is relatively new in Norway. Most
of the Norwegian attendees were very positive to the idea, some were skeptical.
But that’s the point of a good discussion—to get the ideas out there and to get
people started talking about them.
What struck
me afterwards was that the Science library (Realfagsbiblioteket) has done a fair amount of pimping in
its own right. The beautiful and professionally-done trailers about the invited
scientists who come to the library to hold lectures and workshops are a good
example of the library (KBH and AC) pimping the work and careers of these
scientists; these trailers have been uploaded to SlideShare if you are
interested in seeing them: http://www.slideshare.net/Realfagsbiblioteket/presentations.
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