November 2008 Archives

I've been traveling a lot over the last two months.  The first big trip mid-October was to Prague with a group of students, then early November I flew to Lisbon to meet up with a fellow Simmons alum and good friend for a long weekend.  This past weekend I went to Brussels and Bruges, again with a group of students, and in three very short weeks my partner Seb and I will fly to New York for the holidays.

I really like to write travel stories, so today I post this story below I wrote about an experience in Northern Ireland in 2005.  I was a junior year abroad student in France, and a fellow Simmons friend Kate Diamond and myself were traveling in Ireland together.  Both of Irish heritage, the trip was somewhat of a root-seeking mission, so I've titled this story "Our Roots."  Enjoy!

----------------------------------------

Kate and I were walking eagerly down an unknown street in Belfast, chatting about our families' Catholic origins in contrast to our distant relationship with the Christian faith.  It was our second day in the city, and we felt more at ease there than our current home of France.  Belfast reminded us of our native New England: we drank beer and scarped up French fries and fried fish enthusiastically, surrounded by native speakers of our own mother tongue.
    "Yeah, we never really go to church.  Maybe on Christmas Eve, or Easter occasionally, but even that is rare."
    "I think the last time we went was when my brother Greg was still in high school..." Kate replied, pausing to furrow her brow in the direction of a lightly colored rain cloud that was headed our way.
    "But I was totally born in a Catholic Hospital.  Baptized from birth."
    "Yeah, me too - well, not the Catholic hospital part, but my parents had me baptized when I was a few months old," she said. 
Neither Kate nor myself made it as far as confirmation, but we felt a sense of camaraderie with the outcast Catholics of Belfast who wanted to unite their island as one single nation. Sporting our shiny Bostonian clauddaugh rings, we soldiered on in the poorly paved sidewalk in hunt of the famous murals.

    Trying to understand an unfamiliar city is like putting together a 3-D jigsaw puzzle.  In the middle of this anonymous street, I paused.
    "Kate, are you sure this is the way?" I took our free tourist map out of my pocket and studied our route.
    "Yeah, I think so... at least, that's what my Lonely Planet says.  it should be the right street but lets try to find a street sign just to check," she responded.
    We walked a block further, passing more fast-food shops and Spar convenience stores.  The gray sky was an appropriate backdrop for this sore city, and as we searched for a street sign, I remarked the absence of other tourists in the town.
    "Dude, maybe we should just ask someone.  What do you think?"  I hoped it wouldn't rain during our afternoon exploration.  As a student of politics specializing in terrorism, Kate was thrilled with Belfast and ever more ecstatic to finally see the murals she had been reading about for years.  As a student of literature, I was looking forward to the Oscar Wilde statue in Dublin, but had only recently learned who Bobby Sands was...
    "Yeah, okay.  That could be good," Kate responded.
    We pondered which of the passersby to ask.  The gruff looking teenage boys might not be friendly, and their accents might be difficult to decipher.
    I spotted a nun waiting for the bus.  She had on a navy blue habit, her skirt stopping just below her knees. 
    "Excuse me, M'am, could you tell us how to get to the murals on Shankill Road?"

    "Oh dear, this is Shankill Road all right.  Is it St Nicolas you're looking for?"
    "No Ma'am, we're looking for the Catholic murals."
    "Ooh right, well you know, there is mass at St Nicolas' today at four thirty."
    "Oh, thank you very much ma'am.  Do you know which direction we should go to find the murals?"
    "Ah yes, it's up thataway about two blocks.  You know, there's also a mass tomorrow morning at Saint Mary's.  It's down to the right."
    "Thank you very much," I responded politely.
    "Are you girls Catholic?" she asked with an expectant look in her eyes.
    Kate and I looked at each other quickly.  Thinking back to our earlier conversation I replied, "Why yes, we're both baptized Catholic!"
    "Oh well that's good," said the nun, smiling.
    Just then, the yellow city bus rolled up to the stop.  The nun started away towards it, "You girls have a good day now!" she shouted.
    "You too, thanks very much!" we responded. 
    We turned around in the other direction and found our way to the murals.  We never did make it to mass though.

...At least not while on vacation and not in Vegas.

 

I recently returned from a week's vacation in Las Vegas. As I unpacked my suitcase and transferred my never worn "party clothes" to their padded hangers I smiled to myself and realized I was 'old school' when it came to vacation planning and packing. I took my bejeweled dancing shoes and complimenting beaded clutch from their felted pouches and returned them to their respective storage cases on the top shelf of my closet.

 

I looked down at Rudy, (my 10lb. Chihuahua and Poodle mix BFF) and lamented that I did not get the opportunity to get dressed up. I remembered listing the activities, restaurants and shows I wanted to see and of course, the casinos I wanted to visit. I had planned and laid out outfits for day and evening.

 

Even though I was staying at a resort about a mile from 'The Strip' I knew I was going to stop at  Bellagio, Caesar's Palace and The Wynn if only to drop a few quarters in a slot machine, order a dirty martini, and people watch. And without a doubt, I was going to wear a different cocktail dress for at least four of the seven nights I was in Vegas.

 

Well, it didn't quite turn out that way. During the day children, teens, adults including seniors, wore jeans with either a tee or polo shirt and sneakers...ah excuse me athletic shoes, as they meandered up and down Las Vegas Boulevard, weaving their way in and out adjacent casinos.  In the evenings instead of east coast glitz and glamour, the laid back style of the west coast prevailed amongst the patrons of the casinos and nightclubs. I call it "California Cool"

 

The shoes to live for each and every day, Jimmy Choo, Stuart Weitzman and Christian Laboutin and with their distinctive red soles flashing as someone sauntered by; each was a unique and exceptional work of art. Beautiful little blouses and jackets by Michael Kors, Vera Wang and Marc Jacobs topped off jeans by Diesel, Juicy Couture and my personal favorite Calvin Klein.

 

"Oh boy" I thought "I have definitely been working too hard and have not taken enough weekend jaunts to keep me current in what is happening and what is not!" My cocktail dress seemed over-the-top and screamed "first time in Vegas" and "trying too hard" as I stood at a slot machine dropping quarters and sipping Chardonnay.

 

Luckily I over-packed and after a short shopping trip to the outlets of Las Vegas, I transformed my vacation wardrobe into "California Cool". What else is a girl to do when she sees the error or her ways but, to do some shopping and go with the flow.

 

I spent my last night in the casinos and clubs of Caesar's Palace. The crowd was lively, looked well rested and unconcerned about state of the financial markets. I  crossed my legs as I sat down at a slot machine and raised a glass of champagne to my lips. "Life is good" I thought to myself and "when in Rome do as the Romans do." The slot machine seemed to ring in agreement as its bells rang signaling a winner and paid me $100.00. 

As many of you know, November is National Novel Writing Month (nanowrimo for those of you down with the lingo). I didn't officially sign up for the challenge of writing a 50,000 word first draft of a novel in the month of November - I attempted to do so on October 31, but the nanowrimo website was on the fritz due to the high volume of late-comers. However, I have been trying my best to get some writing done. I think that this month has inspired me - just the thought of all of those brave souls out there pounding out a draft in one month's time (a holiday month, no less) gives me a sense of hope. It's a community feeling, which is sorely lacking from writing, a usually solitary endeavor. So I'm thinking very kind, hopeful thoughts for all writers out there, especially at this time of year. Tomorrow we will fill up on turkey and pumpkin pie and then, as we recover from our potato and stuffing induced-stupor...well, we just have to get back to writing.

It's been a rather long November, all told . . . From the time spent obsessing with the waning days of the presidential campaign to  . . .  well the time spent now obsessing with the transition process (I admit it, I'm a political junkie--did you know that Bobby Jindal is in Iowa THIS WEEK?!?!  '12 here we come!!), it's been quite an engaging and often exhausting month. 

Let's take a moment and evaluate some of the past few weeks: 

It seems that I've lost obscene amounts of the past few weeks in meetings, I'm sure it was all for the greater good and will pay off in the end (unfortunately, there's a lot of meetings yet to come between now and pay-off time).  Strategic Planning at Simmons is moving ahead and I'm quite excited to be working with Carol Bonner on it. 

I gave it the College Try and completed my assignments for my Communications Technologies class early for the semester (that's why I've been avoiding posting to the blog, right?  too much communications technologies for one boy!).  My grand assignment was to write a paper on the attributes, future, and impact of direct mail.  Yes, Direct Mail.  Call me a geek, but I got into the topic a bit too much and found it a bit too interesting.  But it's over, so onward to the next thing.

The New England Archivists held their Fall meeting a Simmons in the middle of November, a weekend that coincided with an Undergraduate Admissions Open House.  Somehow, we coordinated 250 archivists with 330 prospective students and family members and made it through unscathed and successful.  I like to think that the past year of planning on my part paid off, but I think it was more the good luck of having some properly aligned stars somewhere far away.  

I read The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano.  I'm still reeling in amazement from the experience.  The minute I finished it, I wanted to re-read it.  And from someone who likes to tear through books and move on (just like he collects friends on Facebook), that's saying something.

I've registered for a Poetry Workshop in the Spring Semester with Afaa Weaver and am looking forward to writing on-demand again, having realized that hoping for inspiration without deadline doesn't really work for me. 

And as I type this, Simmons is slowing down to silent for the Thanksgiving holiday break.  Speaking for myself and every single soul I encounter--from faculty, staff, student, to administrator--the 5 or so days off are much needed.  Then a few more weeks and the semester break happens.  My husband and I are busy making plans for a weekend in New York in December, then the holidays.

Which brings me to:  as the uncle of two adorable kids, I'm entrusted with the mighty responsibility of buying toys.  What do 9-month old boys like (his sister is two years older so he has all of her toys, which means he has EVERYTHING)?  Trucks, I was told, trucks.  Any other ideas are very welcome. 

More in a couple weeks!  Cheers.

When I was in graduate school at the Harvard School of Public Health, my physiology professor Dr. Bob Banzett used a donut to describe the human body. That the donut is the body and the donut hole is the digestive track (the top opening is the mouth and the bottom opening is the other end). And he would ask, "If things are in the donut hole, is it in the donut or outside the donut?".  And it would dawn to the students that unless things are absorbed, having it in the digestive track does not equal being inside the body.  I now use this analogy with my students. Not only because it is useful for teaching, but any food-related usually gets nutrition students excited as well. 

Last Friday I attended a poetry reading event in support of Teen Voices magazine, an alternative magazine for teen girls (http://www.teenvoices.com/). I was an intern at this organization back in college and then it was my first job after graduating, but I haven’t been able to participate in their events as much as I would have liked since then. So I went to the poetry reading on Friday night, not entirely sure what to expect.

It was intense. Teenage girls from the afterschool program got up on the little stage in front of a packed audience (the place was overflowing) and read about everything: their hopes, their fears, what they would do if they were President, how they are perceived by others as opposed to who they really are inside, and the importance of having their own voices heard. Their voices were raw and honest in a way that would make many an adult cringe: sharing their feelings about absent parents and the pain of their past in language that was direct, unflinching, and often jaw-droppingly-stunning. I stood in the back, amazed at the sheer bravery of these young women.

And that wasn’t the only thing that struck me. During each reading, especially if the reader paused or was having difficulty with her material, the girls in the audience would call out her name and words of encouragement. And the applause after each performance was simply deafening—after one seemingly-quiet girl read her powerful poem, the audience literally jumped out of their seats, screaming. The unabashed support that these girls showed each other was really moving.

I write fiction for a teen audience, so it was really illuminating to hear teenagers talk about themselves in their own words. For me, writing has always been about revealing myself through the story and voice of someone not-entirely-me, always obscured behind the veil of fiction. I'm thankful that there are so many avenues for self-expression, for all of us.

For more information about Teen Voices and this event, please visit: http://www.myspace.com/tvpoeticallyspeaking.

I didn't start out wanting to be a Leader of Geeks.  For most of my formative years, I was absolutely convinced that I was going to be a college professor at a research institution.  One of my role models did exactly that, and I desperately wanted to be her or have a job like hers.  I was a big nerd, so I had a chance.

So I concentrated in sciences in high school, and joined every non-sports club imaginable.  I got bored, so I decided that I didn't need to take a senior year and applied to 5 different colleges (got into 3).  I went to MIT when I was 17, and still don't have a high school diploma.  Or a GED. I'm a high school drop-out, believe it or not.

At MIT, I became a biology major (minor in writing!), and set my sights on a Ph.D. in protein biochemistry.  Then I actually worked in a lab and couldn't stand the isolation of the research environment.  As my sister (who is a newly-minted Ph.D. in biomedical engineering) says, I would have made a great principal investigator but a really crummy grad student.  I graduated with my B.S. and had no idea what to do.

I became a really lousy medical secretary.  Hey, it made more than being a lousy lab tech, and it allowed me to figure out whether to go to medical school.  Well, in theory, anyhow.   I applied to medical school and figured out during the interview process that I really didn't want to actually be a doctor.  (Wish I'd figured that out BEFORE spending all the cash on flying all over the country.)

There was no reason to continue being a lousy medical secretary if I had no future in the field, so I circulated my resume.  I was hired as a Computer Training Specialist because I had taught and been a TA in a few classes at MIT, and my boss's husband had a degree from there, too.  I flew all over the country and taught social workers how to use Windows 95 and WordPerfect 7.  Turns out I was also a lousy trainer--I don't like repeating myself, so it didn't work well.  When no one would show up to my classes, I followed the network guy around.  The roll-out ended, and I got bored.

That's when I ended up at Burns & Levinson as the Applications Specialist.  Finally, something I could do and NOT be lousy!  While I was at Burns, Donovan Hatem split off and became its own firm.  One day, one of the partners at Donovan Hatem called me into his office, and asked me to sit down and close the door--quite surprising, since I figured he wanted me to fix his Treo.  He asked, "Where could you see yourself at Donovan Hatem?"

I thought for a moment and said, "I could be your IT Director."

Six months of negotiation later, I was.  I was a 28-year-old leader of geeks, and I got to start a new technology department from scratch.  I'm now on my 2nd IT Director position (at Morrison Mahoney), and I have to say that, even on bad days when the systems crash, I love what I do.  Oh, and it turns out that I'm not a lousy IT Director--go figure.  

I have mentioned in my bio that I play organ for churches on Sundays.  I am not the "resident organist" at any particular church, rather, I am a "sub" (the industry lingo for substitute) or freelance organist. It is great to be a sub, I get to call which Sunday I want a gig (which I'd prefer to call it an "assignment"). And unlike resident organists, I don't have to worry about finding a sub if I need to be away.  I was a resident organist for many years before my kids were born, and what a pain it was to try to find subs that you can trust.  There are a lot of good organists around, but it is always a bit nerve-wrecking when you call someone you don't know.

Well, how do churches locate subs when they need them? Besides the usual "word of mouth", the greater Boston area also has a "sub list".  Let me back track and give you some back ground information.  There is a professional organization for organists The American Guild of Organists.  The Boston chapter (supposedly the largest chapter in the country) maintains a "sub list".  You have to a member in order to get on the list.  So half of the time, I get calls from people I don't know but got my name from that list, and half of the time it is "word of mouth".

From my experience, it seems that the demand for subs is not small, even outside summer.  I have come across situations for short term medical leave coverage, or interim of a few months when a church is in the process of hiring a new organist. And of course, there is the usual vacation coverage that is only 1 or 2 weeks long. The vacation coverage is not that common outside the summer months.  So summer is the predictably busy months for subs, but the weekend after Christmas is too. As organists are stuck at their jobs at Christmas, they visit families usually the weekend after.

I promise I'll tell some funny situations that I encounter as an organist.

What a month it has been! Between a tightening credit market, various banks failing on a regular basis, housing market dive, high gas and food prices, and a wildly volatile stock market, it's no wonder that it's tough to turn on the news each morning.

It is rough out there, but try not to panic. As much as the news media would like you to believe it, the world is not coming to an end any time soon. The good news is, there is plenty that you can do to put yourself in the best position possible to safely ride the crazy roller coaster that is currently our economy!

Here are my tips for you. Please feel free to ask me questions about anything you don't understand right now - I'll be happy to help you sift through the confusion.

1. Don't panic

It's easy to imagine total catastrophe when so much of the economy is in flux. However, it is so important to not become reactionary. I have heard more than a few friends wonder these past few weeks whether the best thing to do is to just pull all your remaining money out of everywhere and hide it under your mattress (and then climb into bed on top of it and not emerge until the scary times have passed!).

I urge you to be brave. I'm sure you have heard the old adage "buy low, sell high." Well, guess what? Right now, we are at a "low" point and this is the exact opposite of the best time to sell. The best thing you can do right now is to invest in a strong seat belt, buckle up, and hang on!

If you are a client of mine, you know that we always talk about how it is much better to be "in the market when it goes down" than "out of the market when it goes up."

One thing you can do with your investments is rebalance your portfolio, if necessary. You may have the intention of keeping, for example, 80% of your portfolio in stocks and 20% in bonds. With the market fluctuations, your portfolio may now have decreased to, for example, 60% in stocks and 40% in bonds. Just as you would when the market has been strong and certain parts of your portfolio have outgrown their intended proportions, you should readjust the percentages of your portfolio if certain parts have decreased in size faster than other parts of your portfolio. If your intention has always been to keep 80% of your portfolio in stocks, you should make sure that your portfolio is still in line with your intentions. (Resist the urge to change your target percentages or become more conservative as a reaction to current events!)

2. Protect your credit rating

You may have heard (and I'm not sure how you could not have heard, unless you have sworn off all major news networks!) that a huge part of this economic turmoil is closely tied to the credit markets. There is a lot of information and mis-information floating around out there right now about the credit markets. The simple truth is, the credit markets are tightening, meaning it is going to get much more difficult to obtain loans, mortgages, credit cards, etc. The large bailout package passed by congress should help a little to loosen the credit markets, but they may continue to be tight for a while - only time will tell.

At this point, I would highly advise you to fiercely protect your credit rating - no matter what it takes. Work hard to not miss any payments on anything - your cell phone, your credit cards, your mortgage, etc. If it means working a bit of overtime or getting a weekend job in order to start paying off some of your debts, in order to ensure that you will comfortably be able to make all your payments on time, it makes sense to do so at this point.

3. Live more frugally and save more

Even if you haven't started feeling the pinch personally, you should begin trying to live more within your means than you previously were. We are coming off a period of excessive spending, so it's likely we can each tighten our belts somewhere, even if it seems difficult. Pay off your debts, trim your luxury expenses: cable TV and internet packages, cell phone plans, going out to eat for dinner, vacations, start bringing your lunch to work. As you pay off your debts, sock away what you were previously paying toward your credit cards and luxuries into a high-yield savings account in order to create a good sized emergency fund. For years, your financial advisor and personal finance magazines have been telling you to create an emergency fund. The emergency times are now upon us, so as much as you can boost that fund in the near term will help you - aim for 6 months to a year worth of cash to cover essential expenses. If things start getting really rocky, you don't want to be living "paycheck to paycheck." I realize this is a very difficult thing to do when you feel like your back is already up against the wall, but it will be so worth it - even if you can just start saving a few dollars here and there, it can really help you if things start to get more difficult.

Remember, when I say "live frugally" and "save more" that does not mean withdraw money from your investments or your 401(k). Rather, I would argue that now is a great time to be investing in a well diversified, consistent manner. The stock market is now "on sale" - if you love finding great bargains on high quality items when shopping, now is the time to look to the markets for the same experience.

4. Review your personal insurance policies

You may feel that you have very little control over anything right now, and that can be frustrating. One great way to make a real difference in your personal financial life is to review your various personal insurance policies. The point of insurance is to help us survive in times of personal catastrophe. While you are working to save and set money aside into an emergency fund, another huge safeguard would be to prepare for the unexpected. Life insurance, disability insurance, homeowners, renters, auto, health and umbrella liability policies are all worth reviewing at this time. Having a great set of insurance policies really helps to minimize your risk in many ways when your whole financial life feels very volatile.

We have all witnessed the failures and rescue packages of huge financial and insurance powerhouses (such as insurance giant, AIG) over the past few months, so you might be wary to keep all of your insurance policies with one large company. I would not discourage you from diversifying your risk a bit in this sense. With the government's heavy hand in the economy these days, it is unlikely that a large insurance company would fail to the point that you would be completely uninsured, but none of us can tell the future. Diversifying across firms is a good idea here for another reason as well. Even though it might be convenient to deal with just one company, you should look for great companies in each area of insurance. A really strong life insurance company may not be as specialized in disability or homeowners insurance, so you want to look for the company that stands out in each area of insurance you are looking to buy.

Speak to a non-biased financial professional who can help you determine whether you have the right amount of coverage for your particular needs in each insurance area. Great insurance coverage will go a long way toward helping you sleep at night!

5. Dollar cost average into the market

Are you familiar with the concept of dollar cost averaging? It is a fairly simple economic concept designed to help you "buy low and sell high." In order to achieve dollar cost averaging, you will spend a fixed dollar amount at regular intervals (once a month, for example) on a particular investment or your entire portfolio, regardless of the share price. In this way, you end up purchasing more shares when prices are low and buying fewer shares when prices are high, and achieving an overall lower price per share.

I bring up this concept since it is currently a great time to get into the market in a diversified manner if you aren't already. If you are already in the market, you should stay in and continue to add to your portfolio. However, with all the volatility in the market right now, it is a particularly important time to make sure you take full advantage of the market's ups and downs.

6. Make yourself indispensable at work and boost your resume; Build your personal network

I always tell my clients that the greatest asset they have as a young professional is their ability to earn an income. With all the talk of gloom and doom these days, it can be tempting to tuck into your cubical, work away quietly at your desk and avoid the bad news as much as possible. However, we all must be aware of the very real possibility of layoffs as companies come to deal with the credit crunch and volatile economy.

Now, I'm sure we can all agree that from a business perspective it's impossible to make yourself truly indispensable at work. If your employer is going through layoffs, there might be little that you can do to help your situation. However, there are always things you can do to make yourself less dispensable. Look around and figure out which projects are difficult, and more dreaded than the rest, and volunteer for them, and do an awesome job at them! Enroll in a continuing education class, either through your employer or through a local university or center for adult education, in order to boost your resume and your skill set. Don't complain if your employer doesn't want to reimburse you (the long-term benefit will far outweigh the cost of the course), but make sure that they know how much you are learning from the class and how it applies to your job. Get excited about what you are learning and spend time chatting with your managers a about what your company does. Have lunch with your manager and chat with them about your excitement when it comes to the future of the company and the new and innovative things the company has been doing recently. Show your manager that you are more interested in helping the company succeed overall than in your own daily grind in your cubicle. Do you have a family friend or relative that might be interested in hiring your company's services? Have you ever asked them? Even if your job is the farthest position away from the sales department, now is the time to bring in potential clients to your company. Remember: profit generators are always the last ones on the chopping block!

Now is also the time to step up your networking. (I can hear you groaning now!) Networking isn't as bad as it sounds. You are probably already doing it, but you might just need to get a little bit more organized. Think about all the people you know - from college, high school, your neighborhood, your job (current and past companies), and your family and friends. You might already be halfway there if you belong to a website like LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace or Gather. Make a point to call or send out notes to people whom you have not spoken with in a while. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. Ask them how they are doing and let them know you wanted to get back in touch with them. Remind them about what you are doing professionally and ask them if they can think of any ways that you could help each other to be more successful. Offer to put people in touch with each other if there is a natural professional fit. Generating good professional Karma is always smart - if anything ever happens to your job, you will then easily be able to turn to your network and they will be more than happy to help you!

7. Make sure that your bank is FDIC insured and that you don't have more than $250,000 in savings at any one bank

Now, this seems like a ridiculous scenario, even as I type it, but I suppose it is possible, and if so, it needs to be addressed. Do you have deposits (in a checking or savings account) approaching $250,000 in any one bank? If you answered "yes", my first question is: why? Why do you have so much cash sitting in a checking or savings account? Unless you are a super millionaire and six months of your monthly essential expenses equal close to $250,000 (in which case, I must say, congratulations, you have a pretty sweet life!), you should not have this much money sitting in cash. (In some areas of the country, this would be the equivalent action of having an entire house sitting in your checking or savings account!) You should diversify your assets. You should set aside an appropriate emergency fund and invest the rest into several different asset classes (including, yes, dollar cost averaging into the stock market). This is the best way to weather the rocky economy.

In order to make sure that your deposits are FDIC insured, you can do a couple of quick checks. First, ask your bank. Most banks in the United States are FDIC insured. The bank probably has a sign in the window, on the wall and on it's website indicating that it is a member of the FDIC. For extra confirmation, visit the website called Bank Find, run by the FDIC to search for your bank.

8. Stick to your plan (or create one for the first time)

There is a reason that you have the financial plan that you have. You (and/or your financial advisor) created it specifically for you, with your specific financial goals and risk tolerance in mind. Just because the world around you is a bit rocky, that does not mean that your personality or financial goals have changed. When the economy was not quite so shaky, you determined how much risk you can handle. That hasn't changed. Now is the risky time period you were preparing for when you originally thought about your risk tolerance.

Try to take comfort in the fact that you have a plan. You are in a really good position. If you don't yet have a plan, now is the time to get one. Find a financial planner that you can trust to help you create and stick to a plan that will help you and your family reach your financial goals. Remember that you must ride out the tough times in order to take advantage of the upswings as well.

9. Consider refinancing your mortgage

If you purchased your home in the last few years and you currently have an adjustable-rate mortgage and if your credit is good enough to get a nice rate on a long-term loan, I would highly recommend refinancing to a 30 year fixed rate mortgage. Many people would argue that this does not make sense for all situations, but my stance is that it makes sense for many. Remember that a big trigger of our current economic situation was the push to put everyone into mortgages that they might not be able to afford by using creative financing techniques.

Most people that buy into adjustable rate mortgages do so with the thought that they should only be in that home for a few years, and that they plan to sell their home before the rate adjustments begin (often after 5 years or 7 years). This plan can often save you some cash during those first few years that you own your home, however, make sure that you are taking all factors into account. What if the housing market is in a similar situation that it is in today on the day that you hope to sell your home? Would you be willing to sell at a significant loss, if necessary? Would you consider renting out your home at that point if you had to move? You might argue that you could refinance your mortgage to a longer-term loan at that point. Will you feel the same way if mortgage rates are significantly higher than they are today? With the extreme volatility in the housing and credit markets, and knowing that none of us have a crystal ball, my moderately conservative recommendation for you is to refinance to a long-term loan at this point if you can do so. This will help you to be able to sleep better at night as the economy fluctuates and settles over the next few years.

10. Believe in the strength of our economy

I know that this concept has become a political talking point over the past few weeks as the presidential election nears, but there is some truth to this idea. Despite what anyone, on either side, says for political gain, we should try to remember that the United States economy is resilient. Americans are adapters. Right now, we are just waiting for and working toward the next big idea that will help our economy to bounce back - Will it be green and alternative energy? Will the digital revolution take us to the next level? Will organic living take hold? Most likely, it will be something else that we aren't even imagining yet. Don't despair as you notice layoffs and a volatile stock market (although, I realize that in the near-term that is easier said than done!). Know that we are going to all be okay, because we are not a country that gives up when times get tough. Things might look a bit hairy at the moment, but I, for one, am excited to see what we come up with next!

Let me know what tips you have come up with to help us all survive this crisis - I look forward to hearing them!

The Marketing, Alumni Communications, and Admissions teams--and Heidi's girls in front--August 2008

____________________________________________________________

Last summer, I traded my job as a marketing director at Simmons for permanent truancy. I loved my work and my faculty and staff colleagues (with many of whom I remain in close touch). But working full time limited my freedom to pursue my interests in creative writing and the visual arts.

After leaving Simmons, some nicely challenging freelance projects came my way of their own accord and the old issue of "work/life balance" reared its head again. But, I've finally got a handle on how to manage those projects and schedule time to indulge my passions, as well.

Over the years, I've written essays and articles and been fortunate to have most of them published. Next up on the writing roster is completing two longer works, tentatively titled, My Mother's Money and How Colleges Really Work. 

While working at Simmons I met many students who have gone on to other ventures out in the big wide world. But as a graduate student there in the 90s, working full time in the for-profit sector left little time to talk with my classmates about their interests outside of the classroom. So, the opportunity to connect with others in this forum is very appealing. Let's hear it for another great idea from the Simmons alumni communications group!

I'm a native New Yorker whose parents actively believed in the value of literature and the arts. We visited museums, natural history and art, nearly every weekend. (You might say I'm a cultural nerd.)

I hope this blog will host a conversation about art--specifically collecting affordable, original art. During my eleven years working at the college, I got to know some extraordinary Simmons art faculty. We'll get to hear from some of them in future posts, and benefit from their exceptional expertise.

As an adult undergraduate at Northeastern University, I had a master mentor in the artist Robert Wells, then chair of the art department there. I'll be sharing some lessons from him, too, and providing useful resources, such as links to information packed Websites.

Over the years, I've collected very moderately priced pieces. Some of that artwork has increased in value beyond anything I could have imagined, although I don't play the art market, i.e., purchase pieces in the hopes of making a profit. I've got good art hanging on my walls (and stored in my attic), but I'm not a complete art snob. A frequently admired piece of art actually is wrapping paper--that's right, wrapping paper--that my husband and I bought from a museum store. It's framed and hanging in our kitchen.

Please jump in and write about your experiences appreciating and collecting inexpensive original art. And we're not going to be highbrows here, so please send along any funny art-related stories (are there any funny art-related stories?), too.

[Pardon any weird "A" symbols in this post. They refused to be deleted!]

Because most people I meet have a set image of a graphic designer that is quite distant from, or only part of, the truth, I hope that through this blog I can broaden that view. I thought I might start by telling people a little about my own background a greatly expanded version of what I tell my students the first day of class. My career has been anything but straightforward, zigzagged in fact, and I want students to understand that being a graphic designer can and should encompass more than laying out brochure pages or a website. How they find design-work that is more than commercial, hopefully a public service, is up to them. But having a liberal arts background is a good way to start.

I've now been teaching at Simmons almost ten years and it's the longest employment in one place I've ever had. I love teaching and couldn't be happier. Up until I took a full-time job at Simmons about five years ago, one might say that my career was more about pursuing adventure than following a career path, as long as I could earn a living at the same time. When I graduated from college in the 1960s I drove from Michigan the day after graduation to Washington, DC, stayed a few nights in a YMCA and found a job as the receptionist for Sargent Shriver, the first director of the Peace Corps. One might say of this position -- high profile without any serious responsibilities except being pleasant to all the fascinating people who got off the elevator. I also had to read the New York Times and clip relevant material for Sargent Shriver. The crucial thing was that the position put me in contact with many intelligent and savvy people in Washington.

Within six months, through one of my acquaintances at the Peace Corps, I learned of what would be my next job -- program analyst in the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department. At this job I researched voter registration policies in the D.C. office and traveled to Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana to assist the department attorneys who were enforcing, case by case, the civil rights act of 1964, recently passed by congress. (On one occasion, when preparing evidence for a trial of hooded Ku Klux Klan members, the worst hurricane prior to Katrina ravaged New Orleans including my hotel room.) This job suited me perfectly as I'd been active in high school and college organizing civil rights campaigns. However, it wasn't long before I felt I needed to get out of offices and be in the field. I knew if I didn't work directly with the people affected by the programs that employed me while I was young, I might not be motivated to leave home again. Because I'd seen much about the Peace Corps as a staff member, I decided to volunteer for the new start-up, VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) and was sent to East Harlem to become a community developer with a non-profit: Block Communities Inc. Each block worker, as we were called, took an apartment on a different block and was responsible for surveying every household there and then facilitating meetings about common problems. We were not supposed to do anything directly for our neighbors or the neighborhood. Our job was to bring the people together, conduct meetings, and try to find a leader in the community who would take over our job -- work ourselves out of a job. We were steeped in the methods of community organizing and group work, and trained by the New York Drug Rehabilitation Department. We were taught how to make things happen without our doing anything but talk to people. Exhausting, but very rewarding if/when a tiny change occurred. I was lucky because by the time I left East 118th Street, two neighbors, a Puerto Rican and an African American, were not only ready, but wanting to be responsible for the one block community where we lived. And the teenagers on the street had developed a summer program for the youngest children after learning in 40 or 50 block meetings how to apply for an Anti-Poverty Program grant from the federal government -- an education itself as meaningful as most had had before dropping out of high school.   

I re-enlisted in VISTA for a second year, spent another year as supervisor and training director, participated in a 72 hour (no sleep) drug rehabilitation session as part of our training, got married to a civil rights lawyer I had met in Mississippi, all this while the peace movement and race riots blanketed the US. Suddenly it seemed, that being white, in the predominantly Puerto Rican and Italian East Harlem, I should take a back seat to the people in the neighborhood when it came to working for change. The civil rights movement was different by then. I decided that if I wanted to continue my present work, I should go back to graduate school and become what we were then calling "advocate planners" -- city planners who represented a community, rather than the government, in a public service way.

You might say this ended Phase I of my adult life. I will stop here to see what responses, if any, I get. The next time I write I may explain how at graduate school I changed plans completely, received a degree in graphic design, and upon graduation changed directions yet again. Instead of trying to pursue a career, I ended up in South-East Asia and Vietnam (during the war). This trip was planned to last four months. I didn't return to the US for two and a half years and then only for eighteen months.

Dear Simmons College,When will the Good News come?

What will the Good News be?

"The Class of 2012 is 450 strong." Have to wait until next September.

"The College has balanced its budget, is out of debt, and is financially superhealthy again." Who knows when.

"I got a big raise." Hmmm, usually around December 7.

"Major friends of Simmons have donated millions." Money, Money & Money.

Performance artists were in the Trustman Gallery not long ago. One young barefoot woman filled pill casings with a mysterious substance then offered them to passersby. Another young woman invited people to assemble eye glasses from raw onion rings. Holding them up to her eyes, she wept along with each of her guests.A young woman with a generous but impish smile approached me and asked if she could hold my hand. I acquiesced (a word which means, "yes yes yes yes yes" with apologies to Lemony Snicket and James Joyce). This was her performance.

The Good News does not have to be about treasure. It can be about . . . song. There will be much singing at the College between now and . . . then. Will you be there?

Bob White Cheerful Professor of Communications

If there's one question students ask me above all others, it is: What can you do with math besides teach?

Now, I like math, and I especially like teaching math. We have a national shortage of qualified science and mathematics teachers. So, it's a pleasure to report that some of Simmons's best and brightest are choosing careers as math teachers.  

That said, over the past few years I've been noticing a trend. Current mathematics majors, like their peers, are eager to tackle global problems. They want to fight infectious diseases. They're passionate to save the environment. They ask for internship placements where they get to work with real data. Most of all, they want to use their knowledge of mathematics now.

The Class of 2006 is a case in point. Over a dozen students majored in math, or rather, double-majored with math. Their interests were diverse, spanning marine biology, chemistry, computer science, economics, and communications. But, they shared one thing in common: They wanted to use mathematical tools to model real-world data and to unravel patterns within and among sets of data drawn from their other field of interest.

I'm launching this monthly blog to show you these new faces of mathematics and to publicize some of the latest careers for mathematics majors. I'll share recent conversations starting with alums from the Class of 2006. You'll hear about their years at Simmons and where they've ended up. I hope you'll enjoy these posts!

Our first conversation is with Christine Franey, who is an epidemiologist. The Bureau of Labor Statistics website provides employment, job prospects, and salary information for epidemiologists. Please meet Christine!

Christine Franey, B.S. in Chemistry and Mathematics, 2006; Master in Public Health in Epidemiology, 2008

 

• So, first off, Christine, what drew you to math? 
  
  I think that math was always my favorite subject because it's a matter of applying a set of rules to solve a problem. I remember making the connection that, oh, you can apply this logical process to all your other classes.
  
  
• What did you think you wanted to do with math?
  
  I always just liked math and I feel people think if you like math then you'll also like science. I wanted to use math in science.
  
  
• What were turning points for you?
  
  There are three that stand out from my undergraduate years. At the end of my junior year, I was lucky to be chosen to participate in a biostatistics training program for undergraduates called the Summer Institute for Training in Biostatistics or SIBS. It took place at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. This experience affirmed for me that I was interested in public health.
  
  Another turning point was my internship, in my senior year, at Boston University. At the time, I had no idea of the complexity of the things that we were doing. The project I worked on looked at the correlation between religiosity and health outcomes. This internship helped confirm my thinking about pursuing a master's degree in public health. Amazingly, what I'm doing now is much like what I did at Boston University!
  
  My short term course to South Africa for journalism class was possibly my top experience at Simmons. I got to visit HIV/TB clinics with two other students. We visited as observers, story tellers, and journalists. Everyone in the short course wrote up their experiences as the chapters of a book my class wrote, WOMEN TO WOMEN Young Americans in South Africa, that's been published. I used math and statistics to tell my story.
  
  
• You've just earned your Master's degree in epidemiology. How do you use math on a daily basis?
  
  Right now I am a research analyst at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. A lot of what I do is to combine statistics with logical reasoning. I supply research support to health researchers. For example, one project I work on is on end-stage renal disease. We use a national database and link back to Medicare claims. The databases are huge and I help medical researchers to frame questions and create analytic files so they can get the information they need.
  
  
• Where do you see yourself in five years? What do you think the role of math will be in helping you get there?
  
  In five years, I hope to have a degree in Nursing. I want to be working in a job where I have job satisfaction, where I can help the world, and where I can be more connected to my community. My ultimate goal is to earn the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree. After 2015 Nurse Practitioners will be required to have a doctorate degree in order to practice and teach, and this will likely lead to more practice-based research in nursing.  My background in math and statistics will be invaluable here.
  
  After all, how can you say anything about any topic without numbers to back it up?
  
  
• Do you have any advice for your fellow Simmons alumni?
  
  Just that they take advantage of every other opportunity no matter how crazy it may seem. These experiences give you new perspectives, help you to learn new things, and let you meet different people.

 

 

Do you have questions for Christine or comments about this series? If so, we'd love to hear from you!