My family is the most important thing to me. If they’re OK, I can live my life and have fun doing things I like. If something is wrong with one of them, it’s hard for me to concentrate on anything else.
When I wake up in the morning, I sometimes think about all the people around the world who are struggling with so many things – from chronic pain or addiction, to loneliness, to war. I know circumstances can change for anyone, anytime, anywhere. I wish everyone could have at least one happy hour a day – pain-free, safe, loved.
On a related note, it’s been heartwarming to see some of the hostages released in Israel. The moment when they’re reunited with their loved ones is so powerful. I’m happy for those families.
I’ve always liked giraffes. I like their spots, their long necks and legs, their big eyes and eyelashes, and their gentleness. And the calves are so cute, wobbling around on those long legs. Maybe I’m anthropomorphizing, but I think giraffes are cool.
Now I know people have mixed feelings about zoos, but if an African safari is not in your budget, zoos are the only place you’re ever going to see a live giraffe herd. The very best giraffe exhibit I’ve ever seen is at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs. You should make a point to visit, if you’re ever in the area. The giraffe exhibit is a real showstopper 🦒
Visiting the giraffes at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, 2009
I’m a beach person. I love swimming in the ocean and sitting in the warm sand. I’m extremely fortunate to have a close and generous friend with a home near the greatest beach ever. Here’s the view of her beach, as you first see it from the dunes above.
Ah, beach
I do appreciate a mountain view and I’ve climbed a couple of them. My husband and I hiked/camped overnight in New Hampshire’s White Mountains a few times. (This was something he used to do with his friends before we met.) Man, that is HARD work. The exhilaration of reaching a summit is tough to match, but the pain of carrying a heavy backpack and trudging endlessly is not for me.
Atop Mt Garfield (elevation 4,498 ft) in NH in 1993
Same trip, different day
I think that was as close to a smile as I could manage with that backpack on.
If you could meet a historical figure, who would it be and why?
I was very excited to see the new film Napoleon, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Joaquin Phoenix, because of my upcoming trip to France. We went on opening night.
Sadly, it’s not a good film. I’m sure it had a huge budget, but it just doesn’t work. My husband and I both fell asleep in different parts. It’s really boring, even with all those battles. I’m not sure what Phoenix was going for in his portrayal, but he comes off as a strange, quiet, boring creep.
The two most exciting scenes are when Marie Antoinette goes to the guillotine and when the soldiers at the Battle of Austerlitz fall through the ice.
Based on the film, I’d rather go back and meet Marie Antoinette, the last Queen of France. I’d want to meet her during the fun Versailles years — you know, before they turned on her.
Catherine Walker as Marie Antoinette on her way to the guillotine in Napoleon (a bad film by Ridley Scott)
June is my favorite month. It’s my birthday month and summer begins, which is a big deal in New England. Technically, summer starts at the end of May, with Memorial Day weekend, but kids don’t get out of school until June, so that’s when it really starts. Also, the summer solstice (the longest day) is on June 20, 21 or 22.
When we were kids, every girl knew her “birthstone.” I’m not sure how that got started, but it contributed to your feelings (good or bad) about your birth month. In my opinion, February has the coolest birthstone: amethyst. April gets diamond (which is actually a little boring). Other good ones are May (emerald), July (ruby) and September (sapphire). June was wishy washy. Sometimes it got “pearl” (lame! and not even a stone), but it often got “Alexandrite.” (I’ve also seen moonstone as the June birthstone, which is also lame. Though beautiful, moonstone is semi-precious at best.)
Nobody is really sure what an Alexandrite is, but apparently real ones are quite rare, valuable, and change colors (from pink to purplish blue). As a girl, I was given a birthstone ring with a supposedly real Alexandrite. I once wore it on a jungle gym and it got stuck on a protruding screw (oh the 70s!) and bent out of shape. (I dangled by the ring for a moment, then dropped to the ground.) A jeweler bent it back into a circle for me and I still have it. Occasionally, I wear it.
So, I love June. I just want to know if my Alexandrite is real and if not, I’d like a real one please. Mine does change colors, which is cool.
Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, particularly the Commonwealth Avenue mall, is my favorite part of the city. I worked in this neighborhood my entire career, starting with my first job after college at The Institute of Contemporary Art, when it was on Boylston Street.
Back Bay is so beautiful and so historic. Many movie scenes have been shot here. I’ve seen several of them underway over the years, with my closest brush with fame being a glimpse of Benedict Cumberbatch. He was shooting a scene for Black Mass at the Harvard Club. Cumberbatch played Billy Bulger, the brother of Boston’s most famous mobster — Whitey Bulger. I saw the film, but can’t remember if he got the accent right. They rarely do!
Today was hard. It was Friday of my last real week at work. Word has been slowly leaking out and tonight I got a call shortly after 5pm from a number I didn’t recognize. It was the Executive Director of the legacy (pre-merger) organization calling to say that he is “devastated” that I’m leaving. He said I’d done amazing work over the past 18 years and left a lasting legacy at the organization. He wanted to know the details of why I’d resigned, so I told him. He was really upset. I cried. We didn’t linger on that too long, because he really just wanted to thank me – very sincerely. I truly appreciated his call.
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I think I’ll stay in Massachusetts. It’s such a boring answer, but with the world the way it is, I really wouldn’t want to risk any other state or country. The long cold winters are a big problem for me, but you can always jump on a plane to someplace warm.
Top 5 things about Massachusetts:
We have many beaches — from Salisbury to Westport, plus Cape Cod and the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket
We have mountains — the Berkshires are a magical region loaded with world class cultural organizations like Tanglewood and Jacob’s Pillow
We have Boston — it ain’t NYC, but it’s a real city with an international airport and several wonderful art museums
Most of the people I love and care about live here.
Politics: we were the first state to legalize same sex marriage and pass universal healthcare. We guarantee women’s reproductive freedom and have restrictive gun laws (although loopholes still exist). Trump lost every single Massachusetts county in the 2020 election.
People call us “Massholes,” but that’s just because they don’t know how to fuckin’ drive.
What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever found (and kept)?
At work last summer, I found my entire teams’ salaries (including mine) in the office printer. They were just sitting there — for hours — before I finally looked to see what they were.
I kept the paper for future reference.
Knowing that I was underpaid in relation to some less experienced colleagues made my decision to resign this week a bit easier.
I’m pretty sure this is a GenX and older problem. Nobody younger than 40 would ever print out a sheet of salaries — or really anything for that matter.
It’s not 2013 anymore. GenX (including me) needs to quit printing stuff.
Who is the most famous or infamous person you have ever met?
In 2016, I had lunch with Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer, and his pit bull Junior.
I was getting my lunch at a food truck in Boston’s Christian Science Plaza when I noticed someone asking for a pic with the guy in front of me. I soon figured out it was Cesar Millan, as we had watched his show, Dog Whisperer, many times when we had Teddy.
We sat near each other on a bench and chatted while we ate our lunches. Junior sat at Cesar’s side. Junior is a large and terrifying looking American Pit Bull with wicked eyes, but he was wearing a service dog vest and I figured there was absolutely no way that the Dog Whisperer’s dog would bite me. Theoretically he’s the best trained dog in America. So I relaxed.
I found Cesar to be a very open and warm person. He told me he grew up on his grandfather’s farm in Mexico with lots of dogs. They were very poor. He came to the USA looking for a better life, crossing over the border illegally. He said, “I was a wetback.” Once in LA, he became a sought-after celebrity dog walker, which eventually led to a story in The Los Angeles Times. This eventually led to his wildly successful TV show, which ran on the National Geographic channel from 2004 – 2011.
In 2016, when I met him, he had fallen on somewhat hard times. A wildly expensive divorce and some unscrupulous management had cost him a lot. He was in Boston to do a live stage version of his show in a second-rate venue north of the city. He had a good attitude about it though. He seemed to believe that everything happens for a reason. He had learned to be careful who you trust.
When I got back to the office after lunch, my coworker Tracy, who had declined my invitation to go to the food trucks, was incredulous. She couldn’t believe she had missed the opportunity to meet Cesar Millan! It was pretty funny.
Cesar Millan and me in Boston in July 2016 — just a couple of GenXers hanging out 😉
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