David

David Grant President and CEO: The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Morristown. 
What he does: Runs a grants-making institution that awarded $16 million in 2007 to arts, environmental, educational and Morris County nonprofits.
Why we love him: He counsels, teaches and inspires nonprofit leaders.

Grant took over the reins of the Dodge foundation in 1998 after spending more than 20 years in education. His hands-on style, patient demeanor and sharp intellect have attracted many fans.  

"You don't play hockey casually in Minnesota. You don't play basketball casually in North Carolina. You don't participate in the arts casually here," says Grant, who lives in Hoboken.

The key to his success, he says, is simple.

"I would rank the quality of empathy very high," says Grant. "It is important for foundation people to remember what it is like to ask for money. Absolutely essential is a core respect for the people who are working in the civic sector.

 

The Heart of January

                                                    The forecast is for more snow...

Less is Always More in Late January

"Very little is needed to make a happy life."

Marcus Aurelius 

Roman Emperor 121 AD-180 AD

Inaugural Poem

Praise Song for the Day

Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each others’ eyes or not, about to speak or speaking. All about us is noise. All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues. Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.

A farmer considers the changing sky; A teacher says, “Take out your pencils. Begin.”

We encounter each other in words, words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of someone and then others who said, “I need to see what’s on the other side; I know there’s something better down the road.”

We need to find a place where we are safe; We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign; The figuring it out at kitchen tables.

Some live by “Love thy neighbor as thy self.”

Others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need.

What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.

In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.

On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp — praise song for walking forward in that light.

Elizabeth Alexander

A Privelege

Tomorrow Barrack Obama will be inaugurated. I admire his belief that the greatest untapped resource in this country is an engaged citizenry and that language is currency. It's been a long time since we have been challenged to be more.

Something from William Faulkner's Nobel Prize Banquet speech.

" I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail."

Transitional Housing

Tonight I assisted an artist who brings art experiences to children and families living in temporary county housing. In spite of all they are going through, while engaged in the process of creating something new - they leave that behind. I felt very honored to be involved, even peripherally, with the process tonight.

The Red Fox

I've seen the red fox so often lately... he's so exposed when the hills are covered in snow.

Via con me

Smiling and listening to Paolo Conte.

Issa

降る雪を払ふ気もなきかがし哉

furu yuki wo harau ki mo naki kagashi kana

Also in no mood 

To sweep away the snow 

Scarecrow

Kobayashi Issa, 1827

A Thought

"Your work is to discover your work, and then with all your heart to give yourself to it."

Buddha

Old Photos - Recognize Anyone ?

Joyce and Eileen in the artroom and on the steps with Marybeth and Diane and the 2 Sues and crew in the ski lodge.

The Day After Christmas

On the Day after Christmas, Ellen, Alice and I tried to go to Frenchtown for the day.  An accident on the highway slowed traffic to a standstill and we took the exit for Tewksbury and soon after found our way the antique store pictured above.  It isn't where we planned to be that day but the funny thing is the first thing that caught my eye was an antique toy merry-go-round truck (right beside a giant frog cookie jar) A very cool find because when I was four years old in New Orleans, my father had a merry-go-round truck come to our driveway for my birthday party. It was completely magical. My brothers, sisters, friends and neighbors rode for hours and it's a really vivid early memory. Finding that toy the day after Christmas, in a place I so accidentally visited, made me happy.

          

                                                                  

One Step Forward Two Steps Back

                                              

Sprained my knee on New Year's Day...not starting the year with my best foot forward. 

Christmas Slippers and Sox

Elf-worthy footwear.

Chris and Colleen

Right before the holidays, Chris and Colleen went down to Florida to visit mom - celebrate birthdays and enjoy some time together. I love seeing these expressions.