The Collection Is Growing Exponentially!

Over the years I have had various business cards of different designs and for different purposes. Starting in college, I found this to be a great tool when going to meetings, networking events, and when interviewing for jobs. Having a clear, well designed business card has always made a great impression and proved to be a key early on in both my academic and professional careers.

It is actually interesting for me to look back at all of my old cards as I have kept copies from every address and position that I have held over the years. While many times I opted for a very basic design and layout, there are other cards when I used a little creativity to help them stand out. Having recently in the late fall and wanting to change things up a bit, I found myself in a position where I needed to update my cards. While in the past I have always walked into the local Staples to get the work done, this time around I decided to give Vistaprint a try.

The basic templates and stock options were all reasonable and offered a wide variety for just about any profession or service imaginable. While there was nothing with a square and compass I did find an appropriate design with just a hint of blue that I was able to tailor to my needs. With a thick linen stock, these new cards should hold up much better than the last batch and it was only a couple dollars more for the batch of 500.

Designing my personal cards was a little more of an involved process as I really wanted to change things up as compared to the ones that I have had printed in the past. With a stockpile of photos from various trips at my immediate disposal, I decided that this would be a perfect time to use some of my favorite images. So I went with a full color design on the front and back evenly spacing four photos on the front and six on the back. It seems like a lot but it actually worked out and looks fantastic.

Of course, when placing this order I was given the option to purchase an address stamp at a significant discount. With the amount of physical mail that I still send out on a regular basis this was well worth the five dollar investment. When I received the order at work the following week the cards were better than expected but the stamp fell short. More accurately, it was a little off center and tilted. However, to their credit, it took me about two minutes to get everything squared away with customer service and a new unit was in hand by the end of the week.

So now I find myself with quite the collection of active business cards as I have two personal options, one for lodge, one for work, and I am also receiving promotional business cards for each book that I publish. I have two in hand so far with two more on the way and a more that will follow later in the year. By the end of the year I may have a pocket full of about a dozen options. I think I may have a problem.

Monthly Delays

I think it got stuck!

There is always a little carry over at the lodge from the previous year. Sometimes it is as simple as some events that have postponed or votes that have been delayed from the previous leadership. Of course, there are those other moments when a complete review is need of everything that transpired over the previous twelve months. That is the situation that I find myself in now but, thankfully, this is also why I make sure to keep overly detailed notes and basically records of anything that crossed my desk.

While the last stated meeting went smoothly and we closed the lodge at a completely reasonable time, the conversations that took place after the meeting came to an end filled the remainder of the night. Long after all the other brethren departed and were on their way home, a few of us slowly made our way down the stairs, shut off the lights, and headed out to our cars. Just one of those nights that happens every once in a while.

And that is where the work only really just begins. Now is the time when a couple of us have to make the calls, send the emails, and twist some arms to get all the information that we need to ensure that our records of the previous year are complete. There isn’t really an issue it is simply a matter of collection… there are many things that just need to be brought back to the lodge and filed. Heck, there are some records that I keep at home because it is more convenient given the times when I am able to get work done between meetings.

This was just one part of the delay for the evening. The other part comes down to the fact that I enjoy discussing ideas and plans with the brothers from the lodge. More often than not, this is what adds that extra 20-30 minutes to the end of the evening. While it has been less prevalent lately with the schedule that I need to maintain, it still happens every once in a while and can actually be a quite productive part of the night. These walking brainstorm sessions in the parking lot have produced numerous viable and useful plans and projects during the year.

Sometimes I kind of wish that the work would stop when I leave the lodge or at least get into my car but, at the same time, I enjoy the moments here and there outside of the lodge when progress is made or ideas are turned into reality. However, on the other side of this are the moments when I have to hunt down brothers through every means of communication available to take care of things that should have been wrapped up by the time we replaced the calendar on the wall. Either way, the work never ends at the doors of the lodge and, overall, I am okay with that… for now.

Full Circle

As you may recall from my resolution post at the very beginning of the year one of the many things that I wanted to focus on this year was to get back to my creative writing roots. The overall goal was to resume writing poetry and stories, pursue publishing them, and doing the occasional reading. While my time is still very limited leaving me little time to pursue these efforts I have been presented an opportunity this week that should get me back on the right path in this endeavor.

For those of you who don’t know, I was rather active in the Philadelphia and Boston area poetry scenes about a decade ago. Since then, time and other objectives seemed to have stymied that creative outlet and it has been a struggle trying to return to that eclectic world ever since. This week proved that sometimes things come full circle when we are least expecting them.

On my LinkedIn profile I have a sample of one of my more popular poems which has been published multiple times in various literary journals, an anthology, and a part of my own small collection (i.e. chap book). Many of the people I have connected to through LinkedIn are from those days in the poetry scene and every once in a while I get the occasional correspondence usually just checking in and seeing if I am still writing. However, this latest message was very specific in its purpose… I have been asked to write an article about Janusz Korczak.

The goal is to complete the 3,000 – 4,000 article by the end of next month with publication scheduled for April. While I have some knowledge still remaining in my mind on the subject and about Korczak’s life, I am going to have to do some extensive mining to recover those raw ore that will power the story. Nearly ten years is a long time between writing projects on a specific subject especially when I am going to have to rediscover my academic writing side.

It will be a challenge and one that I am heading into with some trepidation but I am looking forward to reading the end result. It will not be a scholarly piece but it will serve as an introduction to an astounding life. It will be a means to make history more accessible which was the original goal of my poetry in the first place. This is precisely the reason why I said that this project is going to bring me full circle.

So, what was the poem that sparked this project and inspired a local literary editor to contact me? I could just direct you to my LinkedIn profile but I’m not going to do that. I have included the poem below. I hope that it sparks the same kind of curiosity in you that it has in others.

A Pure Breath

“What matters is that all this did happen.” – Janusz Korczak

The boy pushed away sleep and,
blinking his silent eyes in the candlelight,
he listened to Korczak’s voice.

Echoing above the soldier’s
ash-muffled steps, the only
sound in the camp was
the doctor’s paper cracking
like a stiff flag in a sharp
breeze as he chiseled lead
onto what once was white.

Despite his arthritic fingers,
he had written hundreds of
pages in the ghetto;
but these were the first
curled letters of his Kaddish.
This was his last leaf of script;
the last journal entry which
would never leave his hand.

This was his voice that would rain
down with his body and
rest in the lungs of Treblinka.